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Swine in America 

A Text-book for the 

Breeder, Feeder 

£# Student 



#T| I have not great learning, but what little I have acquired was paid for from 
jl the proceeds of some wheat and hogs. — Benjamin Harrison 

ffi In the American Hog we have an automatic, combined machine for reducing 
Til the bulk in Corn and enhancing its value. He is also a mint, and the 
Corn of our common country is the bullion he transmutes into golden coin. 
— J. Sterling Morion 



By F. D. Coburn 

Secretary Kansas Department of Agriculture 



Illustrated 



NEW YORK 

ORANGE JUDD COMPANY 

LONDON 

KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO., Limited 
1912 






COPYRIGHT 1SI09, BY 

ORANGE JUDD COMPANY 
All Rights Reserved 



CENTERED AT STATIONERS' ITAI.L, LONDON, ENOLANDJ 







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CONCERNING THE 
ILLUSTRATIONS 



n 



Of some of the illustrations in this volume it may be said by 
the censorious that they exaggerate ; that they are overdone, and 
that there never were animals of the porcine tribe so nearly 
perfect as the illustrations represent. There is but a measure of 
truth in this, and persons familiar with the foremost animals of 
the different breeds know there have been and are innumerable 
individuals equal if not superior to any in pictures drawn or pub- 
lished in good faith. In fact, a photograph, directly from life too, 
owing to difficulties which photographers and artists understand, is 
more liable to do the original an injustice tnan an artist's drawing 
is to flatter it. It is no untruth to say there has seldom been made 
a photograph, or its faithful reproduction, of a highly developed 
domestic animal that was fair to the original until corrected with 
pencil and brush and tool. Again, the illustrations which might be 
criticised as most extravagant are those of animals — when at their 
very best — fitted and fattened to the highest degree that experience 
and skill have made possible, and only those observant of and 
familiar with such results and the means by which they are 
produced know they are attainable. Those acquainted only with 
the ordinary farm hog, in his everyday form and more or less 
soiled apparel, can scarcely comprehend the extent to which his 
high-bred, educated, and richly fed relatives may become marvels 
of porcine beauty and behavior when bathed, anointed, manicured 
and curled. It is as incredible to them as that a two- months pig 
can be trained to walk and perform tricks upon a tight-rope in a 
circus, yet this is a fact to which many thousands can bear witness. 
<I These pictures are not presented as illustrations of what more 
than a rare few are likely to equal, but rather that students and 
the ambitious may observe the degree of perfection to which im- 
provement can be and has been pushed, and be assured that 
similar achievements are possible because such possibilities have 
already been many times demonstrated. 

€J To those unacquainted with the business of fitting and exhibit- 
ing, too, it is but fair, if not clearly a duty, to say that the animals 
soon at the leading shows may be considered as looking the best 
that the best individuals in the hands of expert breeders, fitters 
and showmen can possibly be made to look, with the best of care 
and food, under the most skillful management, and without serious 
regard for expense or economy. Also, that except in the hands 
of others equally skilled and equally regardless of time, expense 
and effort they will probably never look so well again. 

THE AUTHOR. 



SWINE IN AMERICA 

and Its Author 

Introduced by Prof. W. A. Henry 



Thirty-odd years ago F. D. Coburn gave to the 
American farmer the best book we have had on swine 
husbandry. Since then the subject has grown and Mr. 
Coburn has grown, and all these intervening years, while 
growing, he has been collecting, sifting and arranging 
matter for a larger and far more complete work. A really 
good book is not the product of a month or a year, but 
rather the fruitage of a wholesome, industrious lifetime 
of observation, accumulation and refined wisdom. 

There still remains in this country a limited number 
of farmers who harbor a mild enmity and narrow suspi- 
cion toward those who write books on agriculture, or 
those who read such books. It is a steadily diminishing 
number, fortunately. Now, reader, suppose that you and 
I were to meet a successful farmer or stockman on the 
highway, at a farmers' picnic, on the railway train, or 
any other place, and drew from him practical, helpful 
observations and experiences in the line in which he ex- 
celled ; we would not only be interested, but also regard 
what he said as something practical and helpful. We 
would both agree that such information was practical. 
Now, suppose we had a stenographer to take down not 



X INTRODUCTION 

only what tin's man said, and to write out his expe- 
riences, but also those of hundreds of other successful 
men along- the same line. Suppose, further, that we 
placed all this matter in the hands of a careful, capable 
person, who would arrange, condense, and express in a 
simple, plain, helpful way all that he had so accumulated. 
Would any of the information so gathered he less valu- 
able because it finally appeared in print than if it were to 
fall on the ear, soon to he largely forgotten and lost? 
The middleman in agriculture is just as important in 
his way as is *-he practical man, who produces; we must 
have both, and let us appreciate both and despise neither. 

Mr. Coburn occupies a large place in the hearts of 
American farmers — a place peculiarly his own, for there 
is none other just like him. He has given us other 
books, hut this will, without doubt, he what those who 
are learned would call his "magnum opus," which is 
simply Latin for "great work." Since Mr. Coburn 
writes in good, substantial English, that everybody can 
understand, this is probably the only Latin that will ap- 
pear in his book. 

I have said nothing about the hog. for Mr. Coburn 
will lill to the limit every page that follows, with useful 
information concerning that most useful, humble mem- 
ber of the farm domain. 

W. A. HENRY. 
University of Wisconsin, College of Agriculture, 
Madison, \Yis. 



CONTENTS 



Concerning the Illustrations .... viii 
Introduction ...... ix 

CHAPTER I 
Numbers, Importance, Distribution, Markets, Values I 

CHAPTER II 
The Breeder and Breeding- . . . . [3 

CHAPTER III 
Breeds: Popularity and Distribution . . 25 

CHAPTER IV 
Breeds and Types ..... 32 

CHAPTER V 
Practical Points in Breeding . 67 

CHAPTER VI 
The Boar : Selection and Management . . 79 

CHAPTER VII 
The Sow: Selection and Management . . 106 

CHAPTER VIII 
Pigs: Weaning and Growth .... 149 

CHAPTER IX 
Pasturing and Soiling: ..... 160 

CHAPTER X 
Alfalfa for Swine ..... 190 

CHAPTER XI 
Succulent and Bulky Feeds : Roots and Tubers . 237 

xl 



Xll 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER XII 



Indian Corn : The Pork-Maker's Mainstay 


265 


CHAPTER XIII 




Feeding and Fattening 


299 


CHAPTER XIV 




Wheat, Other Grains and Ground Eeeds . 


337 


CHAPTER XV 




Feeding By-Products .... 


371 


CHAPTER XVI 




Water, Slop and Swill .... 


407 


CHAPTER XVII 




Swine Rearing with Dairying 


427 


CHAPTER XVIII 




I l<>g Houses and Pens .... 


448 


CHAPTER XIX 




Sanitation in the Hog Lot . 


490 


CHAPTER XX 




Castration ...... 


504 


CHAPTER XXI 




Slaughtering and Curing 


508 



CHAPTER XXII 
Razor-Backs not "Cholera Proof" or Profitable 

CHAPTER XXIII 
The Most Common Diseases of Swine 

Appendix ....... 



526 

532 
585 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



Page 

The American Farm Mortgage Removers Frontispiece 

Anatomical Chart of Hogs vi 

A Pair of Kansas- Reared Poland-Chinas 4 

A Famous Poland-China Boar S 

Poland-China Sow, U. S. Perfection 133834 6 

Poland-China Sow, Lady Lucile 222222 7 

A Great Poland-China Boar 7 

A 400-Pound Poland-China Barrow 9 

Poland-China Boar, Heavyset 96607 9 

Two Great Poland-China Sows 10 

Good Specimens of Middle Yorkshires 18 

A Fine Type of Chester White Boar ^ 19 

Chester White Boar, Leader Chief 24 

A Famous Prize- Winning Chester White Sow 25 

A Two-year-old Chester White Boar 28 

A Champion Yearling Chester White Sow 29 

A Pen of Chester White Boars 29 

Chester White Boar as Portrayed in 1870 31 

A Pair of Excellent Duroc-Jerseys 44 

A Group of Duroc- Jersey Gilts 45 

Duroc-Jersey Sow, My Choice 56 

A Great Duroc-Jersey Boar 56 

A Prize- Winning Duroc-Jersey Boar 57 

A Great Duroc-Jersey Sow 5 7 

Cheshire Boar 59 

Cheshire Sow 60 

A Noted Yorkshire Boar 70 

Berkshire Boar, Lord Premier's Rival 92805 71 

Berkshire Sow, Artful Belle 30th 64947 86 

A Yorkshire Sow 87 

A Small Yorkshire Sow and Litter 116 

Making Hogs of Themselves 117 

A Practical Breeding Crate 148 

In the Rape Pasture 152 

A Two-months-old Rape Plant 153 

A Simple System of Ear Marking 159 

Making Pork from Alfalfa and Corn 172 

Be ix used for Feeding Alfalfa Hay to Swine 173 

A Movable Paneled Hog Fence 176 

Pod of Cowpea 17 7 

Sand or Hairy Vetch 178 

A Two-year-old Victoria Boar 202 

A Handsome Victoria Sow 203 

An 18-months Victoria Boar 220 

A Pen of Fat Victorias 221 

xiii 



Xiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Page 

A Sma;l Yorkshire Boar 244 

Yorkshire Sow, Miss Hollingsworth 4th 245 

Yorkshire Boar, S. H. Perfection, Jr 254 

A Group of Yorkshire Gilts 255 

Tubers and Mature Artichoke Plant 257 

A Yorkshire S >w as Portrayed in 1870 264 

By These American Corn is Converted into Coin 276 

The Matrons of the Farm Yard 277 

An Essex Sow with Litter 308 

A Well-Fatted Essex 309 

An Attractive Essex Gilt 3U9 

A Self-Feeding Device for Ear Corn or Alfalfa 323 

Ma ion's Self-Feeder for Shelled Corn 324 

A Self-Feeder used at Kansas Penitentiary 526 

A Trio of Kansas-Reared Berkshires 340 

Berkshire Sow, Duchess 279th— 75009 341 

Berkshire Boar, Premier Longfellow 68600 348 

Berkshire Boar, Premier Francis 102900 349 

Field Pea and Soy Bean Plants and Pods 354 

Berkshire Boar, Star Masterpiece 10200 358 

Front of a Kansas-Bred Berkshire Boar, Fie d Marshall 103300 359 

Front of Kansas-Bred Berkshire Boar, Berryton Duke, Jr., 77341 359 

A Berkshire Sow as Portrayed in 1870 368 

A Poland-China Boar as Portrayed in 1870 368 

Champion Herd of Hampshire Swine at the World's Fair 3?o 

llampshires, at Home, in the Bant Lot 377 

Prize-Winning Hampshire Barrows at the International 390 

Group of Hampshire Gilts Eight and Nine Months Old 391 

Champion Hampshire Boar, Long John 801 1 391 

A Tarn worth Boar Owned by Kansas State Agricultural College 410 

Tarn worth Sow, Springbrook Nellie 2102 411 

Tamworth Boar, Englewood's. Fireman 1864 418 

Tamworth Sow, Verty Queen 3901 419 

A Tamworth Gilt 41') 

One Style of Partitioned Troughs 423 

i )t her Styles of Partitioned Wood and Cast Iron Troughs 423 

A Good Stationary Trough with Platform 424 

A Well-Protected Trough 424 

An Invert iblc Trough 425 

A Hanging Gate Over a Trough 425 

An Unbreakable Trough 426 

Illinois Experiment Station Hog House Exterior 428 

Illinois Experiment Station Hog House Interior 428 

Individual Hog House at the Illinois Experiment Station Set Up 429 

Individual Hog House at Illinois Experiment Station Taken Down 429 

View Of A. T. Garth's Cement Block Hog II,, use 434 

Illinois Experiment Station Hog House with Slopin : Roof 434 

Individual Hog Houses Scattered in the Pasture 435 

Professor Shepard's Self-Dipping Hog Tank 450 

A Pen of I'ii re- Bred Poland-China Barrows Under Six Months Old 451 

il Plan of the Illinois Experiment Station Hog House 455 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS XV 

Page 

Location of the Illinois Station Hog House with Reference to Pasture 461 

Ground Plan of Combination Hog House Made by Prof. J. G. Puller 4o3 

Plan of Swinging Partitions for Professor Fuller's Hog House 464 

Corner of Farrowing Pen in Prof. Fuller's Hog House 4<>5 

fixterior and Plan of Illinois Breeder's Hog House 466 

Ground Plan of A. T. Garth's Cement Hog House 467 

Ground Plan and Exterior of an Indiana House Hog and Pens 468 

An Inexpensive Style of Hug House 469 

A Convenient Feed House and Periling Floor 470 

End View of the Tobias House and Pens 472 

General Plan of the Tobias House and Pens 473 

Plan and Location of a Movable Second Floor 478 

Michigan Experiment Station Individual Hog House with Sloping Sides. . . . 4S3 

Michigan Experiment Station Individual Hog House with Perpendicular Sides 483 

A More Elaborate Michigan Experiment Station Individual Hog House 484 

An Individual Hog House Protected in Cold Weather 48 5 

A Good House for the Sow and Young Pigs 486 

Yard Plan for Portable Hog House in Connection with Pasture or Feed Lots 487 

A Two-Way Door for Hog House 488 

Device for Keeping Hogs Separated from Cattle 489 

1 log Louse Half Grown and Eggs 498 

At Hog Killin' Time on the Farm 506 

Carcasses of Eight-months-old Yorkshires at Northeast Minnesota Experiment 

Station 507 

A Heating and Scalding Vat with Scraping Platform 510 

A Number of Butchering Conveniences 512 

Device for Easy Scalding and Hanging 513 

Arrangement for Hanging Hogs 514 

Simple Devices for Hanging Hogs 515 

Texas Razor-Backs Used in Cross-breeding Experiments at Wisconsin Experi- 
ment Station 520 

A Great Chester White Sow 521 

The Round Worm 559 

The Kidney Worm 561 

The Strongylus Dentatus 562 

Measles or Tape Worm in Swine 565 

Adult Swine Tape Worm 566 

The Trichina Worm 567 



SWINE IN AMERICA. 



CHAPTER I 

Their Numbers, Importance, Distribution, 
Markets and Values. 

America, and especially the United States, is the great 
swine-producing region of the world. The principal seat 
of this industry is the Mississippi valley, where Indian 
corn is grown in greatest abundance and at least expense. 
Nowhere else are the conditions so favorable ; nowhere 
else are grain and pasturage, the basis of all economical 
meat production, grown in such profusion or to such 
advantage. It is this territory to which frequent allusion 
is made in this volume as the corn belt. It is the corn- 
held, not only of America, but of the world. 

North America has in round numbers 58,000,00c 
swine, of which 95 per cent are in the United States 
and 5 per cent in Canada. These constitute almost half 
the hogs in the world. The United Kingdom has but 
about 3.500,000. The value of the swine industry to 
the United States is graphically represented below by 
the one item of its surplus products exported each year 
to other countries. The enormous value of these 
amounts to $130,000,000 annually. 



2 SWINE JN AMERICA 

VALUES OF EXTORTS OF SWINE PRODUCTS DURING 
THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 30, 1907 

One Million Dollars 

Lard 

Bacon 

Ham 

Salt pork 

Lard compounds and substitutes 

■ 

Fresh pork 

■ 

Live hogs 

I 

Canned pork 

I 

Lard oil 

THE LEADING SWINE STATES 

The number of hogs in the United States January I, 
1908, in thousands, as reported by the Department of 
Agriculture was 56,084.000. Of these, 69 per cent were 
in 12 states, as follows: 

States Number of Swine 

Iowa 8.413.000 

Illinois 4.672,000 

Nebraska 4,243,000 

Missouri 3,503,000 

Indiana 3,159,000 

Texas 3.147,000 

Kansas 2.663,000 

Ohio 2,559,000 

Wisconsin i.qto.ooo 

Georgia t. 590,000 



IMPORTANCE, DISTRIBUTION, MARKETS, VALUES 3 

States Number of Swine 

Tennessee 1,50.2,000 

Michigan 1,388,000 

Total 38,848,000 



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DISTRIBUTION OF SWINE IN THE UNITED STATES 

From the foregoing- it is seen that the bulk of the 
surplus swine of the world — the surplus from which 
armies, navies, and nations less fortunate than ours are 
fed — is grown in a strip of the United States, the prin- 
cipal waters of which find their outlets to the sea through 
the Mississippi river. The great swine states also coin- 
cide remarkably with the great corn states. It will be 
seen in the map above that in numbers the swine of 
America are gathered about a center in the state of Iowa. 
All of the great corn states show totals amounting to 
millions. The southern, eastern and far western states 
comprise a territory showing a much smaller number of 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



swine, and in New England and the Rocky mountain 
states the total number falls to the minimum. 

THE WEALTH THAT SWINE REPRESENT 

The value of the swine in the United States in Jan- 
uary, 1908, was $339,030,000, and in 12 states alone 
they were valued at $239,317,000, which shows the 
degree to which swine raising has been concentrated in a 
few states of the corn belt. The values in these states 
do not follow the order of numbers, as will be seen by 
referring to the Appendix at the close of this volume. 
Texas, for instance, has over 3,000,000 head, valued at 
$16,500,000. In numbers Texas exceeds Ohio by over 
half a million, while in values Ohio leads Texas by over 
$100,000. Similar contrasts may be noted as to num- 
bers and values in other states. The larger value per 
head in certain states may be attributed in a great 
measure to improved breeding in those states. 

50 

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1 c«ii .-> f-oooooooooboooooooooSojOi 0><j3a>0>050aCT>g>oooooooo<=> 



—J^-.*^- — ^*~ ~*~ — ^ — — — — ^^ — Zl^^ — 



■Numbers. 



Values. 



CHANGES IN NUMBERS AND VALUES OF SWINE FOR 30 

YEARS. 

The numbers and farm values of swine for the past 30 
years have shown a somewhat irregular increase. From 




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IMPORTANCE, DISTRIBUTION, MARKETS, VALUES 5 

a total of 34,766,000 in 1879 to 56,084,000 in 1908, the 
numbers have increased. During the same interval the 
total farm value has grown from $110,508,000 in 1879 
to $339,030,000 in 1908. Annual changes of num- 
bers and values are shown on page 4, based upon the 
table in the Appendix. It will be noted that the changes 
in numbers and values have followed each other, except 
in a few instances, the general trend, however, being 
the same. 

THE GREAT HOG MARKETS AND PACKING CENTERS 

The number of hogs slaughtered at the principal 
packing points in the United States in the year ending 
March 1, 1908, was reported as 34,400,000, averaging 
226.58 pounds per head, and costing the packers $5.52 
per 100 pounds, or a total of $427,353,000. Of these 
hogs 27,981,000, costing $350,053,000, were slaughtered 
at what are called western packing points; i. e., not east 
of Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Chicago. The average 
yield of lard for all was 14.35 P er cent, or 32.51 pounds. 

The greatest swine market as well as hog slaughtering 
point in the world is Chicago. There have been marketed 
there 87,716 hogs in one day (February 10, 1908) ; more 
than 300,000 in a single week; more than 1,100,000 in a 
month, and nearly 9,000,000 in a year. Of these, about 
7,500,000 were slaughtered in Chicago establishments. 
The total number received there in the 42 years since the 
Union stock yards were established (to and including the 
year 1907) is a little less than 247,000,000. In the year 
last named the receipts were 7,201,061 head, or 101,122 



SWINE IN AMERICA 

carloads, valued at $102,918,041, or an average price 
of $6.10 per 100 pounds, live weight, for all kinds and 
qualities, their average weight being 234 pounds. 

The second most extensive hog market in the world, 
and packing point as well, is Kansas City, Kansas, where, 
since the establishment of stock yards there in 1871, to 
December 31, 1907, were received 67,689,255 swine. The 
receipts in 1907 were 2,923,777 head, having, alive, an 
average weight of 212 pounds. Of these 2,729,628 head 
were used by local slaughterers. The largest receipts 
for a day at Kansas City were 34,334 head ; for a week, 
132,030; for a month, 503,514 (January, 1908); for a 
year, 3,716,404 head, or 37,752 carloads. Of these but 
1,570 carloads were reshipped. In the month of January, 
1908, the hogs slaughtered by Kansas City packers num- 
bered 548,264. 

Omaha, like Kansas City, a Missouri river town, is 
the world's third swine market and packing metropolis. 
In the 24 years, including 1907, since stock yards were 
established there the receipts of live hogs have exceeded 
39.000,000 head. The receipts there for the calendar year 
1907 were 2,253,652 head, and the number packed was 
2,150,244. Their average live weight was (about) 250 
pounds. 

Cincinnati, which fifty years before was supposedly 
the center, and would remain the headquarters of the 
swine-growing industry, then leading all the world as a 
hog-killing point, occupied in 1907 but eighth place in 
such a list; and seven cities, viz.. Chicago, Kansas City, 
Kansas, Omaha, St. Louis, St. Joseph, Indianapolis and 




Poland-China Sow, Lady Lucile 222222 




A CJrcat INilamM'hina Boar 



IMPORTANCE, DISTRIBUTION, MARKETS, VALUES 7 

Milwaukee, which have grown up to the west and north- 
west, annually slaughter from two to ten times as many 
swine as are killed at Cincinnati. 

CHANGES IN SWINE, AND VARIATIONS IN VALUES 

Since about the year 1865 importation, crossing, selec- 
tion, castration, feeding and careful study have wrought 
wonderful changes in the swine of America. Objection- 
able characteristics have been bred out and fed out, weight 
of undesirable or cheap parts lessened, that of the more 
valuable parts augmented, and the tendency to early ma- 
turity increased 30 to 50 per cent. The proportion of pure- 
breds, or animals that, if used for breeding purposes, 
would improve the quality of the general stock, is greater 
by several hundred per cent ; the proportion of improved 
blood prevalent in the general stock is a thousand-fold 
greater, and the spirit of further improvement has been, 
and is abroad everywhere, but to a much greater degree in 
some sections of the country than in others. A striking 
indication of the correctness of this latter statement is 
disclosed in the values placed by the presumably impartial 
United States Department of Agriculture on the swine 
in the different states. For example, the report for Jan- 
uary 1, 1908, rates the hogs of Florida at $3.75 per head; 
of Arkansas, $3.80; of Mississippi and Louisiana, $4.50; 
Alabama and Kentucky, $4.60; and Tennessee, $4.65. 
The same report gives the value of Connecticut hogs 
as $10.50 each; Massachusetts. $10.25; Rhode Island, 
New Jersey, Montana and Nevada. $10: New York, 
$8.90; Pennsylvania, $7.80: Illinois, $6.60; Iowa, $6.50, 



8 SWIM'; IN AMERICA 

etc. While it would probably be quite misleading to aver 
that the higher values accredited to some of the states 
stood for the much greater improvement or superiority 
their proportions would suggest, it is safe to say that the 
lower values represent and are due to lack of and in- 
difference to swine improvement in the states to which the 
astonishingly lower figures are ascribed. The figures 
do not signify that there are not swine of good breeding" 
and quality in all of the states having the low values, but 
in whatever measure the estimates point to a low general 
average in quality and breeding, and lack of interest in 
swine production, they are close to the borders of 
accuracy. 

Their value is not given as averaging nearly so high, 
yet in Iowa, Illinois, Ohio or Kansas, there are doubtless 
a hundred hogs to one of as good quality in Massachu- 
setts, Connecticut or Rhode Island, the limited number 
in the latter named states, and their being maintained 
chiefly for the family pork barrel, in very small groups, 
under the most favorable conditions and with much 
better individual care, making easily possible a higher 
average in both individual value and quality — not in any 
wise for breeding purposes, but for immediate consump- 
tion — than is profitably attained under the conditions 
existing and practices prevailing in the vast territory 
where farms turn off swine, at intervals throughout the 
year, by carloads 

Fifty years ago large size, almost regardless of the 
lime required for its attainment, was in the grower's eye 
an important object, but conditions have changed to such 







A -100-pound Poland-China Barrow at 9}£ Months 




Poland-China Roar, Heavyset 9G007, a Great Prize-Winner 




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IMPORTANCE, DISTRIBUTION, MARKETS, VALUES 9 

an extent that now the old-time mammoth is no longer 
reared or wanted, and his possession, even though he 
were champion, would cause the producer to be pitied 
rather than envied. The tendency is toward breeds and 
combinations of breeds that will give, with generous 
keep, a vigorous animal of 175 to 400 pounds, of flesh 
rather than lard, with 15 months as the maximum time 
for making the heaviest weight. 

LIVE WEIGHTS AND LARD AVERAGES 

The average live weight of hogs packed in the West 
during the winter seasons (ending March 1) and their 
average yield of lard, in pounds, for 30 years from 
1879 to 1908, has shown a fairly steady decline. Ac- 
cording to figures compiled by the Cincinnati Price Cur- 
rent the heaviest average weight was 271 pounds in 1879 
and the lightest yearly weight was 206 pounds in 1902. 
For the last five years the average weights have ranged 
around 223 pounds, as shown in detail in the Appendix. 

The average weight of hogs and yield of lard from 
hogs packed in the West during the summer seasons 
(ending November 1) for 16 years from 1892 to 1907 
has shown but a slight change from 241 pounds in 1896 
to 230 pounds in 1907. The exact weights for each year 
are given in detail in the Appendix. 

YEARLY COST OF HOGS 

The cost per too pounds of hogs, alive, packed in the 
West in summer and winter seasons has fluctuated greatly 



IO SWINE IX AMERICA 

• 

during the last 24 years, as tabulated by the Price Cur- 
rent. The lowest cost was reached in 1896-97, estimated 
at $3.30 per 100 pounds. The highest cost yet recorded 
was that in 1902-03, when it reached $6.8] per 100 
pounds. Figures for each year from 1883-84 to 1907-08 
are given in the Appendix. 

EXPANSION OF THE SWINE AND CORN-GROWTNG 
INDUSTRY 

That the swine interest has been one of steady and 
constant expansion, and has followed and been con- 
temporaneous with the expansion of the American corn- 
field is well attested by official statistics. These show 
that 40 years ago there were 24,693,000 hogs in the 
United States, and the corn crop was 768,320,000 
bushels, and that in four decades since the hogs have in- 
creased (127 per cent) to 56,084,000 head, and the corn 
yield to 2,592,320,000 bushels. 

IMPROVEMENTS MADE AND THE ROOM FOR OTHERS 

It is probable that but a very moderate per cent of all 
the swine raised for pork are pure-breds, or of a single 
breed. A majority are black, with slight markings of 
white, mostly confined to the feet, face and tip of tail, and 
in that respect more like the Berkshires than any other 
breed. A percentage of these are Poland-Chinas and 
Berkshires, but a largely preponderating number are a 
mixture of these two breeds. Spotted black and white 
hogs are extremely rare, which indicates that the direct 
crossing of black breeds with white is practiced but little; 



IMPORTANCE, DISTRIBUTION, MARKETS, VALUES II 

likewise an entirely black hog is rather an unusual sight. 
Sandy hogs spotted with black are not uncommon, and 
are the results, generally quite satisfactory, of inter- 
breeding swine largely black with the reddish Duroc- 
Jerseys or the Tamworths. 

By the use of pure-bred sires, particularly, the work of 
improvement is pushed forward every year, and the 
scrub is being steadily eliminated. This is especially 
true in those states where swine husbandry has largest 
recognition as a profitable factor in agricultural pros- 
perity. High-class agriculture comprehends high-class 
animal husbandry, and, conversely, a shiftless agriculture 
is satisfied with and lends countenance to a low grade of 
farm animals. There is no exception to this. 

However, in spite of the constant improvement going 
on for so long a time, there is yet ample room for 
much more, even in those sections where advancement 
has been most general. The reasonable explanation of 
this, strange as it may seem, is the indifference to, or 
failure to recognize, the benefits that accrue from the 
persistent use of pure-bred sires, and being shiftlessly 
content to use grades or nondescripts because of the 
supposed saving of five or ten dollars in original cost. 
If attention is paid at all by the owners of such stock to 
the character of the sire (which too often is not the case) 
a pig of some home litter, of no particular blood, breed- 
ing, or possible prepotency, is reserved for or permitted 
to do service, and that too under conditions and in an 
environment adapted to making a scrub of him and like- 
wise of his get. Persisted in, this can lead only to chaos 



12 SWINE IN AMERICA 

so far as quality or any desirable uniformity is con- 
cerned, and while by no means the rule it is yet un- 
necessarily and unjustifiably common. The encouraging- 
feature of the situation as it exists is that reliable 
material with which to work improvement was never 
before so abundant, so readily available, and at a cost 
so nearly nominal — almost unappreciable considering' 
possible results — as in the first decade of the twentieth 
century. 



CHAPTER IT. 

The Breeder and Breeding 

The hog is more of an individual than a machine, and 
his breeder should treat him as such. Methods which 
may be accepted as established have been worked out in 
swine breeding, but adherence to all of them cannot, for 
many practical reasons, be rigid. The breeder himself, 
his breeding stock, environment, feed resources, climate 
and other factors are so largely involved that one man's 
success may spell another man's failure. A common- 
sense type of hog in the hands of a common-sense 
breeder constitutes a combination best calculated foi 
satisfaction and profit during a succession of years. 

Live stock husbandry represents a high type of con- 
structive effort, and swine breeding offers as much satis- 
faction and gain as any other branch. It may profitably 
engage the attention of the man who raises hogs merely 
from financial motives, but a breeder who attains a fore- 
most place in his calling has an interest in his business 
not inspired solely by rewards in money. The compen- 
sations of swine raising are ample for the man who 
desires to make his work a profession, as hundreds who 
have a just pride in their achievements can testify. 

Intelligence used in his breeding and care has raised 
the hog from the plane of the veriest savage, unsought 
except when hunted like any other wild beast, to that of 

13 



14 SWINE IN AMERICA 

a benefactor, contributing a wide variety of meats, amorg 
them the most toothsome known to the epicure, and 
other products essential to the best tables, to commerce 
and to the trades. The hog's disposition has yielded to 
the influence of good breeding and changed from that 
of the outlaw, ready for conflict with man or beast, to 
the peaceable temperament belonging with propriety to 
the barnyard resident. His conformation has been 
molded by skillful methods from bony, angular uncouth- 
ness into a structure of massive width, depth and thick- 
ness, affording a marvelous yield of pork and lard. 
Incidentally, by domestication and generations of breed- 
ing him for early maturity and quick fattening, the 
length of his intestines has been increased, it is claimed 
by scientists, more than 130 per cent 

EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENT 

Swine are as susceptible as other animals to the in- 
fluences of environment, and three or four generations 
cover a period long enough to bring about great changes 
in them. Experiments made at the Wisconsin station 
in crossing the wild or Razor-Back hogs and their crosses 
with the improved and approved breeds showed that a 
marked improvement in appearance and quality in the 
wild hogs' progeny was possible, although in constitu- 
tion and gains of flesh they did not compare with pure- 
breds. The second generation, as may be seen by the 
illustration at the beginning of this chapter, does not 
give marked evidence of Razor-Back ancestry. Yet 
when cholera struck the station herds these supposedly 



THE BREEDER AND BREEDING 1 5 

hardier hogs were the first to succumb. Their feeding- 
habits were irregular; on one day they would gorge 
themselves so that they would be found fasting for the 
next day or more. These compelling forces of heredity 
made plain that both right breeding and right environ- 
ment are essential to the attainment of right results. At 
the same time environment ma}- be, in some cases, a.i 
destructive in its results as in other cases it is beneficial. 
Swine typical of the best breeding require but two or 
three generations of wrong environment to degenerate 
to the level of the most unapproved types. Much, there- 
fore, depends upon the breeder and his provisions for 
and care in handling. 

BREEDING AS A BUSINESS 

Breeding is a business and should be conducted on 
that basis. Whether supplied with unlimited capital or 
restricted to a few hogs and meager facilities the breeder 
has excellent opportunity to exercise his business sense, 
and swine raising will pay him well therefor. The man 
who is careless or indolent may have as much or more 
ill "luck" in raising hogs as in any other similar under- 
taking. 

When hogs for some time bring more than ordinarily 
high prices the tendency and temptation are for rushing 
pellmell into swine raising, and likewise to be forget fill 
of quality in obtaining quantity. It has always been so, 
and probably always will be. But the author's obser- 
vation is that it has taken persistent and skillful 
mismanagement to lose money in hog raising with prices 
as they have ranged for 30 years past, barring, of 



l6 SWINE IN AMERICA 

course, some such epidemic as the so-called cholera. 
There is no branch of farming or stock husbandry which, 
conducted with a reasonable amount of fair horse sense 
and stayed with systematically, one year with another, 
will do better by its proprietor - ' more successfully 
keep the wolf and sheriff from his door than the rearing 
of well-bred swine. This, if he is satisfied with reason- 
able gains and such substantial, steady growth as per- 
tains to the better class of farming, conducted with 
skill and intelligence. If the experience of the best men 
is worth anything, if their observations and bookkeeping 
have any value as standpoints from which to judge, there 
is surely a profit in wisely bred, wisely fed hogs, and 
there always has been, at any price for which they have 
been sold two years in succession within the observation 
of men now in active life. 

As a good business man, the breeder should inquire 
into his own qualifications and special fitness for 
raising swine. In any line of work, and especially in 
agriculture, the man who would obtain results must 
possess and apply enthusiasm, method, energy and 
knowledge. Whosoever lacks at least the germ of 
each of these errs when he begins. No man in whom 
there was not born a pleasure in the handling and care 
of animals should have anything to do with live stock 
husbandry. His efforts will not advance the develop- 
ment of any breed, nor is he likely to ever become the 
shipper of any market-toppers. The shiftless, careless 
man whose study is to devise plans for avoiding work, 
to whom feeding his animals is a drudgery, and their 



THE UREEDER AND BREEDING 1 7 

cleanliness and exercise too unimportant for special 
attention, may make a reputation, but it will be one that 
is unenviable and unsalable. If he cannot interest him- 
self in his work and enjoy results attained by systematic 
and persistent effort, he will more than likely rind swine 
raising too taxing for his capacity. 

Some knowledge of hogs and their rearing is essential, 
but an inexperienced man with an open mind may accom- 
plish much. He has many sources of information — his 
neighbors and other breeders who have had practical ex- 
perience, the standard and current literature on swine, 
the work of the state and national agricultural depart- 
ments and stations, the agricultural press, meetings of 
breeders, farmers' institutes, and others. No one knows 
everything about swine husbandry, but anyone with a 
desire for knowledge can find abundant opportunity to 
learn. An excellent principle worth recalling in this 
connection is that wrong practices once acquired are dif- 
ficult to overcome, just as wrong traits bred into a herd 
require a long time for eradication. Slow, but sure, is a 
good motto for the swine breeder. 

Perhaps the most important characteristic the breeder 
should possess is love for his work. The man who 
is not willing to be more than a mere owner and marketer 
of his swine is not likely to make any large gains. He 
must be their friend as well ; one whose steps they learn 
to recognize and whom they will not object to as a visitor. 
He should be their family phvsician, alert to ward off 
any of the maladies that swine are heir to, and willing, 
if needed, to get up in the middle of a winter's night to 



l8 SWINE IN AMERICA 

see that the new pigs are given the right warmth and 
care. He is their landlord, and they will not pay the rent 
if he fails to furnish proper foods, with decent housing 
and exercise grounds. It is in his hands, in large meas- 
ure, to stunt their growth and make scrubs from thor- 
oughbreds, or to bring his hogs toward that perfection 
which shall give him an enviable reputation, alike at the 
market, in the show yard, on the farms and with the ag- 
ricultural press. 

It is frequently said there is no "best breed," but that 
is not quite true. There is a best breed for every man, 
but, inasmuch as there are many types and classes of 
men, it is but natural that there are various breeds and 
types of swine. Each breed possesses some character- 
istics, marketable or ornamental, to recommend it, but 
one man's taste may be another's dislike. The beginner 
should choose a breed with characteristics appealing to 
his individual liking, preferably after study of the argu- 
ments presented by the champions of various breeds. 
Black, red or white color, length, form or set of ear, 
dish of face, and other features depend in their rating 
upon the individual breeder's personal taste; and it is 
well for him to be sure his choice suits him. Having 
made his choice, he should then, so far as able procure the 
best of its kind, continue with the breed and persistently 
aim to make its progeny better than its ancestors. 

THE COMMON-SENSE HOG 

After all, as has been well said by an excellent au- 
thority, swine breeders, with all their breeding" and feed- 
ing, their study of types, families, and pedigrees, should 



THE BREEDER AND BREEDING 19 

keep in mind the common-sense hog, which the practical, 
everyday fanner, who cares more about types than 
breeds, and more about form than pedigree, needs must 
have, and in the end will have. To supply the farmer 
with this kind of a hog- is the end of all breeding. It is! 
easily possible to run to fancy points until the men who 
dote on these are supplied ; in the end, however, it is the 
fanner's ideal, approved by the packer, that is accepted. 
Fundamentally, the farmer, as a rule, does not care 
whether the hog wears red, white or black hair; whether 
its ears hang down or stand up ; whether it has swirls 
and cowlicks, or combs its hair straight. What he wants 
first is an animal with constitution; and any system of 
breeding, whether inbreeding or outbreeding, whether 
straight, crooked or otherwise, that enfeebles the con- 
stitution is the kind of breeding the farmer does not 
want in his herd. To closely inbreed or line-breed 
merely for the development of some particular unim- 
portant marking, curl in the tail or droop of ear, at the 
same time weakening the constitution or dwarfing the 
size, is to venture upon dangerous ground. 

The farmer does not care, either, for hogs "bred in 
the purple." He is not particular whether the great 
grandsire of his stock sold for one, three, or five thou- 
sand dollars. His chief interest is in this : What breed 
or type of hogs, for the care and feed it is practicable 
for me in my situation to give them, will yield the largest 
return in pork and money? He is furthermore interested 



20 SWINE IN AMERICA 

in having; hogs as nearly immune from disease as possi- 
ble, and to this end he wants those with vigorous consti- 
tutions ; pigs that will fight each other for the best teat 
before they are a day old, even if doing so leads to the 
vice of stealing later. He does not hold his pigs amen- 
able to the code of morals enunciated in the Sermon on 
the Mount. The common-sense hog must be a greedy 
fellow, and more or less of a rustler on occasion. He 
must not be an animated lard keg, a gob of fat, nor a 
fastidious loafer, to be fed on dainties. He must not be 
delicate, or a mincing eater, but growthy, vigorous, 
healthy, and as good a looker as possible consistent with 
the sterling swine virtues mentioned. 

Breeders of any breed can produce this type if they 
will. The farmer has his fancies to a limited extent, and 
breeders can furnish him the hog desired, with red, 
white or black hair, and with any sort of an ear called 
for, but not nearly so readily if they keep an eye too 
much to fashion, or to fancy pedigree. If from any of 
the breeds they will select only the well-formed, robust 
types, and consign all others to the fattening pen, it will 
not be very many generations or years until their clients, 
the farmers, will have little reason to complain of their 
hogs being too delicate, too fine in the bone, too short in 
the body, or too long in the legs. 

The hog is the most plastic ot all farm animals. In 
his wild state he is of unflinching gameness, an intrepid 
fighter, fleet as a race horse, and almost as cunning as a 
fox. Our ancestors transformed him into a domestic 
animal, and adapted him to their nse, by breeding, selec- 



THE BREEDER AND BREEDING 21 

lion and feeding. The intelligent breeder can make from 
an animal so plastic about what he pleases, and the farm- 
ers have a right to demand that usefulness be the aim of 
every breeder and the reason for every purchase. All 
admire a good-looking hog, and there is no reason why 
good looks should not go with the highest usefulness, but 
neither good looks nor fancy breeding should stand for a 
moment in the way of the hog that combines vigor of 
constitution, growthiness, and reasonably early maturity 
with a form pleasing to the eye of either breeder or farm- 
er. When we come to the final test of beauty, "pretty 
is as pretty does." The prettiest hog, after all, is the one 
that is most profitable ; the one that makes the most and 
best pounds of gain from a hundred pounds of the most 
inexpensive dry matter; the one that makes the largest 
contribution toward providing for the family necessities ; 
• toward meeting the interest on the mortgage, and to pay- 
ing the mortgage itself ; for the addition to the house, the 
new carpet, the piano or organ, the new dresses for the 
girls, or for their education at school. If the breeders 
of any breed depart from this practical hog they make a 
mistake, for sooner or later the common-sense farmer 
will demand the common-sense hog, waiving any prefer- 
ence he may have for points merely fanciful. 

THE FECUNDITY OF SWINE 

No other farm animal increases and multiplies so rap- 
idly and profitably as does the hog, when given proper 
treatment. It is probable that few who are actually in 
the business of swine breeding fully realize the ratio of 
increase of which swine are capable, and it is equally 



SWIM-: IN AMERICA 

probable that many who embark in the business begin 
with a larger number of sows than their situation justi- 
fies, through failure to realize the increase easily possible 
from a single sow and her progeny within a compara- 
tively short time. 

The following will serve to show what such increase 
may be: Beginning with a sow pig, suppose that she 
and all her female increase farrow for the first time 
when they are a year old, and give birth to a litter every 
six months thereafter, and that each litter will average 
six pigs, and only three of them females. At the end of 
the first year there is the sow and six pigs — three males 
and four females. In 18 months the sow has a 
second litter. This brings the total up to seven sows 
and six males. At the end of two years the original sow 
has her third litter, and each of the three sows of her 
first litter also farrow. This gives a total of 19 sows 
and 18 males. In two years and a half the three sows of 
her second litter are old enough to farrow. This brings 
the number up to 40 females and 39 males. In three 
years the sows of the first, second and third litters will 
farrow, and in addition the nine that were born to the 
three of the first litter. This increases the number to 
97 females and 96 males. Thus it goes on in progression, 
until at the end of four years there would be a total of 
502 females and 501 males, or enough hogs, descendants 
from the one sow pig, to pay for a good-sized farm. 

"BACON" HOGS VERSUS "LARD" HOGS 

Since about the beginning of the present century there 
lias been much written and printed in advocacy of what 



THE BREEDER AND BREEDING J 3 

the writers term "bacon" hogs, and the importance it 
not necessity of giving more attention to their production 
and less to what are disparagingly designated as "lard" 
hogs; extolling the higher prices and the virtues of lean 
pork and the superiority of the lean or non-fattening 
breeds and types, including Razor-Backs, all claimed as 
yielding the much-coveted streak of lean and streak of 
fat. The effect, however, of this propaganda has not 
been widespread in the United States ; in fact, in a com- 
mercial way, scarcely perceptible. Bacon production in 
America from what breeders term the "bacon" breeds is 
most largely a Canadian industry, and in territory where 
the staple swine food is other than corn. 

In America and the markets, in spite of proposed re- 
forms, alleged demand, higher prices and imagined com- 
petition, the type and style of hog that for decades has 
been a food reliance for the millions, the "lard" 
hog of the corn belt, still not only occupies the 
stage, but tills it. The feeling existent in reference to 
bacon growing is well expressed by a Nebraska editor, 
who says : "The farmer is not governed in his work to 
any perceptible extent by sentiment or fancy. With him 
it is a plain business proposition of raising crops to get 
the largest returns in dollars and cents for the labor and 
expense put into the work. While hog raisers like to 
satisfy their fancies as to breed, they will not do this 
with a plain understanding that they are thereby making 
a money sacrifice. When the time comes that there is a 
reliable special market established for the bacon hog, 
and at prices that will justify his production in preference 



24 SWINE IX AMERICA 

to others, then there will be converts to the bacon-hog in- 
dustry. This must be demonstrated, however, by a very 
decided advance in the market price above that for the 
widely predominant lard hog." 



CHAPTER III. 

Breeds, Popularity and Distribution 

Breeders of the leading breeds of swine have associa- 
tions for registering the pedigrees of the best of their 
pure-bred stock, establishing and maintaining standards 
of excellence, and advancing- the merits and interests of 
the breeds generally. The number of pure-bred regis- 
tered hogs in America is perhaps about one-half of one 
per cent of the total number of swine, but the influence 
of this pure-bred stock is vastly more important than 
these figures would on their face seem to indicate. 

CHOICE OF BREEDS 

Every breed has its admirers and promoters, who urge 
its excellence and adaptability. The question of the 
"best breed" will always be open for discussion, but 
success in swine husbandry depends much more upon the 
best man and the best food than upon this or that breed. 
In some sections certain breeds will remain the most pop- 
ular because of their adaptability to the climate of these 
sections. Thus, in that part of the United States west 
of the 85th meridian the white hog is not looked upon 
with favor, because there white swine are more liable to 
be sun-scalded or to have scurvy, if not mangy skins. In 
the corn belt the extreme bacon types doubtless will never 
be most popular because their characteristics are not 

2.5 






26 SWINE IN AMERICA 

such as will result in the greatest profit from the material 
most abundantly at hand. In selecting a breed the buy- 
er's personal preference is likely to exert a controlling 
influence, but this should be governed by his location and 
purposes, although the characteristics of any breed can 
be in a considerable degree modified by feeding and 
environment. 

As a rule, the extensive concerns that slaughter the 
bulk of the country's hogs have but slight preference 
for any one breed. Questions are frequently raised as 
to whether the red hogs are supplanting the black breeds, 
and whether the white types are on the increase, and the 
packers, better than all others, are in position to observe 
the facts. The following opinions of different packers 
on these questions were given to the author in Septem- 
ber, 1907: 

Armour & Company, Chicago — We have had a very 
decided increase of red hogs and hogs of red mixture, 
particularly in the last two or three years. We think 
about 25 per cent of the hogs are of that type. We see 
no decided increase in white hogs. Ten per cent would 
cover the number, and the remaining 65 per cent are of 
black or black mixtures. We have no preference for 
breed if the hogs are well formed and well fattened. 

Armour Packing Company, Kansas City — Sixty per 
cent of the hogs received at the Kansas City market are 
black, and black and white spotted, black predominating. 
Thirty per cent are red, and red and black spotted, and 
to per cent are white. The red and the red and black 
spotted hogs are increasing in numbers every year. 



BREEDS,, POPULARITY AND DISTRIBUTION 2/ 

White hogs show no material increase. The demand 
for the product makes a market for all weights, but the 
300 to 325-pound averages are most desirable in the fall 
and winter. Breed counts for very little when the qual- 
ity is the same. 

Cudahy Packing Company, Omaha — Our buyers state 
that fully 70 per cent of the hogs now being marketed 
and that have been marketed for some time past, are of 
red or brownish color. About 10 per cent of white 
hogs are being received, and the other 20 per cent are 
black and spotted. The increase in the number of red 
hogs has been somewhat remarkable. Twelve or 15 
years ago hardly 10 per cent of the hogs were red, but 
the percentage has been growing larger ever since, the 
farmers of this territory evidently feeling that red hogs 
were hardier and of a better breed than those formerly 
raised. There has also been an increase in the number 
of white hogs, compared with former years, but on no 
such scale as that of the red hogs. At certain seasons of 
the year a decided preference is given 300 to 325-pound 
properly fattened hogs at 1 2 months ; on the other hand, 
or taking it at the present time, they would sell at a big 
discount, compared with light hogs, partly on account of 
the length of time it would require to cure a heavy hog, 
compared with a light one, the spot or nearby quotations 
on provisions being higher than the distant ones. On 
the whole, however, well-fattened hogs, unless they are 
old sows, are always salable. 

Fowler Packing Company, Kansas City — We estimate 
black and spotted hogs represent about 85 per cent of the 



28 SWINE IN AMERICA 

receipts, red and spotted hogs about 14 per cent, and 
white, say about 1 per cent, although there are so few 
of the latter coming to market now they are hardly no- 
ticeable. There has been a very decided increase during 
the last two years in the number of red or red-spotted 
hogs marketed. Prior to that, the increase was very 
small. We are receiving less white hogs in recent years 
than formerly. As a breed, we prefer the Berkshires or 
Poland-Chinas. 

Kingan & Company, Limited, Indianapolis — Our buy- 
ers estimate the approximate percentage of the different 
colored hogs found in this market at the present time 
as follows : Black 45 per cent, red and red mixed 50 per 
cent, and white 5 per cent. They give it as their opinion 
that there has been a notable increase in the red-mixed 
variety during the past few years, but possibly a decrease 
in the number of pure red hogs. Speaking as a whole, 
however, there is no doubt that there has been a decided 
increase in the reds. As to white hogs, the buyers say they 
are decreasing, and have been slowly for years past. They 
are unpopular with the breeders, as they cannot with- 
stand so well the extremes of climate, being of a more 
delicate nature than either the reds or blacks. Our opin- 
ion is that the Berkshire hog is the most suitable of all 
for the packer, regardless of size. 

Morris & Company, Chicago — In the past five years 
the red and red mixture have been very much on the in- 
crease. In fact, about 35 per cent of our receipts are of 
this kind, 45 to 50 per cent black and less than 5 per 
cent white, the remainder being of mixed breeding and 







A Champion Yearling; Chester White Sow 




A Pen of Chester White Boars 



BREEDS. POPULARITY AND DISTRIBUTION 20, 

color. The hogs' breed and color make no difference 
to the packer, providing they are well bred and properly 
finished. Hogs of all breeds and colors sell at the ex- 
treme top of the market, but this is not true with the 
heavy hogs at this particular time of the year. 

Morris & Company, East St. Louis — There has been a 
notable increase in the number of hogs of red mixtures 
received at this point in the past two or three years. The 
approximate percentage at the present time probably 
would be 30 per cent of red mixed and 5 per cent white, 
and the rest black. There has been very little increase 
in the number of white hogs this season. Very few 
hogs come to this market weighing 300 to 325 pounds 
that are not older than 12 months. If hogs are prime, 
we have no preference as to breed. 

Schwarzschild & Sulzberger Company, Kansas City — 
In estimating the percentage of different colored hogs 
offered on this market we would judge them to be 60 
per cent black, 35 per cent red and 5 per cent white. 
There has been a notable increase in the number of red 
hogs, and a material decrease in the number of white 
hogs. We consider the red hogs rather coarse when 
heavier than 300 pounds, and believe we would have a 
slight preference for the other breeds. 

Swift & Company, Chicago — This year's purchase of 
hogs on the Chicago market would show approximately 
50 per cent black, 30 per cent red and 20 per cent white. 
Red and white hogs are on the increase. We have no 
particular preference as to breed. 



3° 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



Swift & Company, Kansas City — We estimate the per- 
centage of colored hogs at our market as follows : Black 
55 per cent, red 35 per cent and white 10 per cent. There 
is a noticeable increase of red hogs, but no increase in 
the number of white hogs. The breed of a well-formed 
hog, weighing from 300 to 325 pounds, does not make 
any particular difference to the packer. 

Suggesting, in a measure, the popularity of the differ- 
ent breeds in different states or localities, and perhaps 
something as to the ratio of their numbers in the various 
sections of the country to which it refers, is the following 
table, showing the number of each breed exhibited at the 
state or prominent fairs named, in the year 1907* 





a 


£ 


v 


















<u 


















X. 


2 


g 


w 


X 










Fair or Exhibition 


O 

c 





u 
O 

[fl 


u 
u 

V 


p 
B 


1-. 

■a 




3 

1 


ssex 
ictorias 


u 

1 

HI 




Ph, 


a 





ffi 


H 


> 


X 


'A > 







989 
192 
438 
517 
253 
373 


1,205 
85 
247 
738 
407 
404 


497 
85 
61 
155 
148 
171 


148 
38 
102 
101 
100 
169 


67 

48 

56 
38 


98 

37 
62 


2 
2 

86 
85 


















Ohio 










155 
675 
409 
222 

■ 50 


152 
449 
220 
286 


92 
272 

57 
142 


125 
223 

96 
129 

61 


45 

101 
98 


15 
37 


t 

60 


13 '.'. 

6 ! '. 
















California 




Sioux City Inter- 




















Slat ■ Fair 


254 


287 


96 


17 




3 


4 








50 


44 


131 


45 




40 




5 22 


39 




56 
2 


16 

11 


30 
3 


39 
36 




11 




2 




N 1 Carolina 




Kent 1 :ky 


46 


71 


55 


98 




12 


29 






1 it "1 itional Live 




















Stock Show, Chicago 


138 


37 


28 


71 


17 


20 


47 




8 


Total 


4,719 


4,659 


2,023 


1,598 


470 


335 


315 11 


22 


47 



Harrows exclusively. 



EREEDS, POPULARITY AND DISTRIBUTION 



31 



A further suggestion is afforded by a census of the 
pure-bred swine in Indiana, in June, 1907, as reported by 
the state bureau of statistics, which showed in that typical 
swine-growing state, 24,632 Poland-Chinas, 26,729 Du- 
roc-Jerseys, 7,834 Chester Whites, 4,811 Berkshires, 76 
Tain worths, 168 Yorkshires, ^2>7 Hampshires, 240 Essex. 
47 Victorias, 21 Suffolks and 229 Mule-Foots. 

Careful estimates made by De Witt C. Wing, an editor 
of the Breeder's Gazette, of the numbers of living regis- 
tered pure-bred swine in America, of the different breeds, 
at the beginning of 1909, were as follows: Poland-China, 
70,000; Duroc-Jersey, 60,000; Berkshire, 15,000; Chester 
White, 10,000; Hampshire, 3,000; Large Yorkshire, 
2,000; Tamworth, 3,800. Grand total, 163,800. 




A Chester White Boar, as Portrayed in 1870 



CHAPTER IV. 

Breeds and Types 

Although the hog is older than history, his conspicuous 
improvement through selection and judicious breeding 
is a feature of the last half of the nineteenth century. 
Since 1840, in the United States, and in great part since 
1875, the advances made in swine husbandry are quite 
as remarkable in their way as those in any other line of 
endeavor 

By some of the ancient nations the hog was considered 
a sacred animal. By others it was regarded as unclean, 
and prohibited as food. This prohibition among the 
Jews was regarded by Tacitus and others as having been 
because of a feeling that pork was often unfit to 
eat in warm climates, and apt to encourage the spread 
of leprosy. Moses is thought to have forbidden the eat- 
ing of pork because it was liable to give the Israelites 
diseases that would make them unable to endure the long 
march out of Egypt. In those days, when cooking was 
crudely done, there was no doubt much reason to fear 
trichina 

The original wild hog was generally rather small and 
of a slaty color. Environment changed his size and 
color according to the climate and the difficulty in ob- 
taining sustenance. Thus, in a tropical region where 
luxuriant herbage made it easier to obtain food, the hog 



BREEDS AND TYPES 33 

waxed fatter than in the forests farther north, where to 
maintain himself he was compelled to roam more widely 
and venture into more dangerous regions. For the same 
reason the color of the tropical hog is said to have 
changed toward black, giving him better protection 
against the heat of the sun. 

Under domestication, even in earlier days, when no 
attention was paid to the development of characteristics 
especially desirable, decided changes came about. The 
principal changes attributable to domestication of swine 
are given in the following summary by Prof. Thomas 
Shaw, in his book, "The Study of Breeds": *'(i) The 
ears become less movable, the tusks and muscles of the 
neck diminish in size, the back and sides lengthen, the 
Hank and hindquarters deepen, the body becomes less 
capacious, the limbs grow shorter, the bristles are par- 
tially or wholly removed, and the animal becomes much 
less active. (2) The stomach and intestines enlarge, 
they desire more food, and the tendency to obesity in- 
creases. (3) The male loses the solitary habit, the fe- 
male breeds more frequently, has larger litters, and they 
seek their food in the day." 

Most of the breeds now known in America may be 
traced back to or through those of Great Britain, and 
the latter were chiefly improved by crossing Chinese or 
Neapolitan boars upon the native sows. The Chinese were 
used mostly in the modification of the white stock and 
the Neapolitans in improving the black sorts. These 
boars were smaller than the native British stock, and had 
the effect of refining the structure and flesh of their off- 
spring, while enhancing the fattening qualities. 



j 4 SWINE I N A M ERICA 

CLASSIFICATION AND RANK OF BREEDS 

Breeds in the United States are variously classified, 
sometimes according to size and color, and at times by 
comparison of their respective ability to produce lard or 
bacon 

If classified according to size, the Poland-Chinas. 
Chester Whites, Tamworths, Uuroc-Jerseys, Yorkshires, 
and most of the modern Berkshires would be grouped 
together as large hogs; the Small Yorkshires (or Suf- 
folks) and Essex as small hogs; with the Middle York- 
shire, Victoria and Cheshire as medium breeds. 

The Tamworth and Yorkshire, and sometimes the 
Berkshire and Chester White, are classified as bacon 
hogs, and the other breeds as lard hogs, although the 
two breeds last named are more frequently in the corn 
belt classified as lard hogs. The locality in which the 
hogs are raised has more to do with this classification 
than any distinctness of breed type, as any hog will 
assume more or less of the characteristics of one type 
or the other, depending much on whether it is raised 
upon corn and other concentrates or is given less fatten- 
ing food. 

In color, Poland-Chinas and Berkshires are now 
practically the same, viz., chiefly black, with a dash of 
white on the face or jowl, feet, ankles and brush of tail ; 
the Essex are entirely black; Chester Whites, York- 
shires, Victorias and Cheshires wholly white; the Duroc- 
Jerseys and Tamworths, red, bronze or sandy : and 
Hampshires, black, with a broad belt of silvery white 
across the shoulders and extending downward the length 



BREEDS AND TYPES 35 

of the forelegs and feet. Some strains of Hampshires 
have white markings other than those mentioned. 

Ranked according to their numbers and popularity, the 
breeds of swine, or their grades, most largely raised in 
America in the first decade of the twentieth century are 
the Poland-China, Berkshire, Duroc-Jersey and Chester 
White. Of these, the Berkshire is directly of English 
origin, while the other three may be termed American 
breeds. 

CHESTER WHITES 

The Chester White breed had its beginning about 1820, 
di* slightly earlier, in Chester county, Pennsylvania, by the 
use of some white boars brought from Bedfordshire, 
England, for crossing upon the better class of sows then 
reared in Chester county, and mostly white. By careful 
selection and mating, during the ensuing forty years, the 
more painstaking of the thrifty Quakers, who found a 
market in Philadelphia for their surplus swine, had a 
stock quite uniform and notable in its characteristics. 
These were: Length and good size, growthiness, good 
breeding qualities, remarkably quiet and gentle dispo- 
sitions, short legs, rather large, coarse ears, drooped so 
much as to almost obscure the eyes, and hair usually 
abundant and not too coarse, frequently quite curly or 
wavy and always silvery white, although the skin itself 
might sometimes show here and there a brown spot or 
freckle 

Following the Civil war. these Pennsylvania hogs 
had a wide reputation, which was largely added to by 
shrewd advertising. As the supply was confined to but 



JO SWINE IN AMERICA 

two or three counties and was, therefore, quite limited, 
the demand was met by shipment from speculators and 
others of almost any sort of white pigs that could be 
found, especially if the pigs had large ears. Nonde- 
scripts of this kind were distributed over the country as 
pure-bred Chester Whites, and in consequence the repu- 
tation of the breed received a backset, from which it has 
never fully recovered. A few of the original breeders 
kept some of the pure stock, persevering in its breeding 
and improvement until now they have better Chesters 
than were known in the earlier days, and the demand for 
and appreciation of them is steady. 

Soon after the close of the Civil war some northern 
Ohio men began crossing the Chester county hogs on 
stock found in their locality, and the descendants of these 
are now recognized as a breed somewhat distinct from 
the others and designated as the "Ohio Improved 
Chester," or more briefly as the "O. I. C." swine. In a 
general way, these are not now essentially different from 
the swine descended wholly from the Chester county 
stock, but it may be that the best of them have slightly 
more compactness and a less lubberly style, fatten more 
quickly, and reproduce themselves with equal certainty. 
At the same time, only the man who had reared a given 
animal could from its appearance alone be positive as to 
which family of Chesters it belonged. There are many 
high-class individuals in both, while, as in all other 
breeds, some are unworthy of propagation. 

The Chesters of either family are appropriately classed 
among the largest swine known. The ordinary weights 



BREEDS AND TYPES tf 

when mature range from 500 to 600 pounds, but much 
heavier weights are by no means uncommon, and indi- 
viduals weighing as much as 1,000 pounds or even more 
have not been rare. This is not mentioned as an argu- 
ment in favor of this, or any other large breed, as the 
chances are that weight above 500 pounds, put on any 
hog, returns little profit, and the pork added from feed 
given a hog weighing 600 pounds is likely to represent 
a cost far greater than its money return. Experiments 
and experience have long since taught the teachable that 
it is the feed given to young and growing animals which 
returns the quick and large gains, and profit. 

In an early day the author had considerable experience 
with Chester Whites, perhaps as good individuals as 
Chester county afforded, on a Kansas farm where con- 
ditions were quite primitive, and proved that these swine 
had many characteristics extremely likable, but they were 
discarded as other white breeds have been, for their one 
conspicuous defect, namely, susceptibility to skin disease, 
especially mange. The wind, sun and mud and other 
exposure they encountered on the ordinary pioneer's 
prairie farm told severely against the hardiest of them; 
but this does not prove that judicious management and 
breeding may not do much to rid them of their seeming 
tenderness, if it has not been already accomplished. 
There is no herd of swine more attractive than one of 
well-bred, well-fed, healthy, latter-day Chester Whites. 

The standard of excellence, scale of points and de- 
tailed description for Chester Whites, adopted by the 
American Chester White Record Association, read as 
follows : 



38 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



Points 

Brad: Short, broad between the eyes, and nicely tapering from eyes to 

point of nose; face slightly dished; cheeks full S. 

Eyes: Large, bright and free from overgrowing fat 2 . 

Ears: Drooping; thin; pointing outward and forward; well proportioned 

to size of body 2 . 

Jowl: Full, firm and neat, carrying fullness well back to neck and brisket . . 3 . 

Neck: Full, deep, short and well arched 3 . 

Brisket: Full; strong; well let down; extending well forward and on line 

of the belly. ... _ 3. 

Shoulders: Broad; deep; thickness in proportion to the side and ham; full 

and even on top 6. 

Girth around Heart: Full back of shoulders; ribs extending well down; 

wide and full back of forelegs 10. 

Back: Broad, straight or slightly arched, carrying width well back to the 

hams, and of medium length 7 . 

Sides: Full, deep, carrying width and thickness well down and back 6. 

Ribs: Well sprung, carrying fullness well back, and deep 7 . 

Belly: Wide and straight, width approximating that of the back 4. 

Flank and Loin: Flank well let down and full; loin broad, strong and full; 

measure of flank girth equal to heart girth 10. 

Hams: Broad, full, deep, of medium length; coming down well over hock 10. 

Limbs: Medium length, short rather than long; set well apart and well 
under; muscles full above knee and hock; bone firm and not coarse; pasterns 

short and strong; feet short 7 . 

Tail: Small, tapering, smooth and well set on 2 . 

Coat: Fine and thick .••••: 3 . 

Color: White. (Blue spots in skin, and black specks shall not argue im- 

purit y of blood) 1 . 

Action : Easy, prompt, fine and graceful S . 

Symmetry: Uniform build, and all points in animal in proportion 4. 

Total 100. 

A standard, scale and description for "O. I. C." swine, adopted by the Ohio 
Improved Chester Swine Breeders' Association, reads: 

Points 

Color: White. Black spots in hair disqualify, but blue spots in hide 
(freckles), while objectionable, do not argue impurity 2 . 

Head and Face: Head short and wide; cheeks neat (not too full); jaws 
bmad and strong; forehead medium, high and wide; face short and smooth; 
wide between the eyes, which should be prominent, clear and bright, and free 
from surrounding fat; nose neat, tapering and slightly dished 5 . 

Ears: Medium size, soft, not too thick, not clumsy, pointing forward and 
slightly outward, drooping gracefully and fully under control of the animal. . . 2 . 

I't iskct: Full, well let down and joined well to jowl in line with belly 3 . 

/owl: Smooth, neat, firm and full, carrying fullness well back to shoulders 
ami brisket when head is carried up level 2 . 

Neck: Wide, deep, short and nicely arched; neatly tapering from head 
to shoulder ._ 3. 

Shoulders: Broad, deep and full, extending in line with the side, and carry- 
ing size down to line of belly 6 . 

C'licst and Heart Girth: Full around the heart and back of the shoulders; 
ribs extending well down; wide and full back of fore legs 10. 

Back: Broad, straight or slightly arched and of uniform width; free from 
lumps or rolls; same height and width at shoulders as at ham 7. 

Sides: Full, smooth and deep, carrying size down to line of belly; even with 
line of ham and shoulder S . 

Ribs: Long; well sprung at top and bottom, giving animal a square form. . 7 . 

Loin : Broad and full 7 . 

Belly: Same width as back; full and straight; drooping as low at flank as 
at bottom of chest; line of lower edge running parallel with sides 4. 

Flank: Full and even with body 2 . 

Ham and Rump: Broad, full, long, wide a"d deep, admitting of no swells; 
Inil (oiks full, neat and clean; stifle well covered with flesh, nicely tapering 
toward the hock; rump slightly rounding from loin to root of tail, same width 
as back, making an even line with sides 10 . 



BREEDS AND TYPES 39 

Points 

Tail: Small, smooth, nicely tapering; root slightly covered with flesh; car- 
ried in a curl 2 . 

Legs: Medium length; strong and straight; set well apart and well under 
body; bone of good size, firm, and well muscled; wide above knee and hock, 
round and tapering below knee and hock, enabling the animal to carry its 
weight with ease; pasterns short and nearly upright 5 

Feet: Short, firm and tough; animal standing well up on toes 8. 

Coat: Fine; either straight or wavy, with preference for straight; evenly 
distributed and covering the body well; nicely clipped coats no objection. ... 3. 

Action: Easy and graceful ; high carriage; active; gentle and easily handled. 
In males testicles should be readily seen and of same size and carriage 3 . 

Symmetry: A fit proportion of the several parts of the body to each nthcr, 
forming a harmonious combination 4 . 

Total 100 . 

POLAND-CHINAS 

Much discussion, some of it quite acrimonious, has 
taken place in earlier years as to the origin of this breed 
and the proper placing- of credit for its upbuilding. This 
has resulted in several Poland-China breed associations 
and records. It is unquestioned, however, that the breed 
originated in Butler and Warren counties, Ohio, and its 
establishment was well summed up by the late John M. 
Millikin, a local historian and an observant and promi- 
nent citizen for more than half a century. In 1877, Mr. 
Millikin, after an extensive research covering the be- 
ginnings of the breed, its material and make-up, wrote to 
the author as follows : 

"The truth is, no one man can say he had more to do 
with the formation of this breed than another. It was 
the result of the labors of many. It grew out of the in- 
troduction of the China hogs by the Shakers of Union 
Village, their crossing with the Russian and Byfield, and 
the subsequent crossing with the Berkshires and with the 
Irish Graziers. After 1841 or 1842, these breeds ceased 
to exist in either Butler or Warren counties and have had 
nothing whatever to do with the Poland-China breed for 
the last 34 years." 



40 SWINE IN AMERICA 

Controversies as to the precise crosses and by whom 
and under what particular circumstances they may have 
been made, prior to the middle of the last century, to 
form the breed, may interest a few ; but what is vastly 
more important to the practical swine breeder is the fact 
that there was produced a race of swine now bearing 
the name of Poland-China that has been able to hold 
its own for three-fifths of a century as the most popular 
and most widely distributed pork-making machine in the 
foremost pork-producing region of the world. 

It has been called by numerous different local names, 
among these being "Butler County," Warren County/' 
"Miami Valley," "Poland," "Poland and China," "Great 
Western," "Shaker," "Union Village," "Dick's Creek," 
"Gregory's Creek," "Magie" and "Moore." "Big 
Chinas" were brought to Ohio about 1816 by a member 
of the Shaker society in Butler county. These were 
white hogs, with some black or sandy spots. They were 
of medium size and of excellent form and quality, and 
were crossed by the Shakers on the Russian and Byfield 
stock, with superior results. The Irish Grazier was 
brought to Ohio about 22 or 2$ years later from 
Ireland. Berkshires were brought about the same 
time from New York. The foreign blood, as pure- 
bred, was soon extinct, and the hog that is now known 
as the Poland-China was developed by combinations of 
the various breeds or families mentioned. In 1872 the 
name "Poland-China" was adopted at a National Swine 
Breeders' convention in Indianapolis. 



BREEDS AND TYPES 4 I 

The Poland-China is a large breed hog', weighing at 
maturity, alive, 500 to 1,000 pounds. It has reasonably 
early maturity and is much liked throughout the corn- 
producing sections of the United States For crossing 
by other, breeds the Poland-China sows have a popularity 
not surpassed by those of any other. Thev have 
the hardiness, docility and good feeding qualities that 
breeders like, and Poland-China sires transmit these qual- 
ities to their get from sows of any breed. For these 
reasons by far the greater part of the marketed hogs in 
the United States have Poland-China blood. 

In some ways the refinement of this breed, or rather 
some families of it, has been carried too far, and their 
breeders are severely criticised for over-developing fan- 
ciful points to the exclusion or neglect of others more 
important, resulting in diminished size, vigor and prolifi- 
cacy; but the tendency at the present writing is to guard 
against or overcome this by more intelligent management. 

Prior to about the year 1870 the Poland-Chinas aver- 
aged larger than now, were inclined to coarseness, or 
sponginess of bone, had much heavier, drooping ears, and 
were spotted with about even proportions of black and 
white. Since then the tendency each year has been to 
breed them with more black, until now those in highest 
esteem have identically the color and markings so long 
characteristic of the Berkshires, viz., solid black, with 
white feet, white tip of tail, a little white on or' about 
the face and jowl, and occasionally a splash of white 
elsewhere. Their ears are medium or small in size, but 
still drooping, and are pliable and silky. A. C. Moore 



4-> 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



of Fulton county, Illinois, and D. M. Magie of Butler 
county, Ohio, were the men who, by judicious selection, 
careful breeding- and extensive exhibiting and advertis- 
ing, probably did most to bring this stock of hogs, in 
its early days, to wide and favorable public attention. 

Following are the standard of excellence, detailed de- 
scription and scale of points for Poland-Chinas, adopted 
by the National Association of Expert Judges : 

Points 

Head: Broad, even and smooth between and above the eyes. Slightly 
dished, tapering evenly and gradually to near end of nose. Broad lower jaw. 
Head inclined to shortness, but not enough to give the appearance of stubby 
nose. In male a masculine expression 4 . 

Eyes: Full, clear, prominent and expressive 2 

Ears: Attached to head by a short, firm knuckle, giving free and easy 
action. Standing up slightly at the base to within two-thirds of the tip, where 
a gentle break or drop should occur; in size neither too large nor too small, but 
even, fine, thin, leaf-shaped. Slightly inclined outward. 2 . 

Neck: Short, wide, even, smooth, well arched. Rounding and full from 
poll to shoulder, with due regard to the characteristics of the sex 2. 

loivl: Full, broad, deep, smooth and firm, carrying fullness back near to 
point of shoulders and below line of lower jaw, so that lower line will be as low 
as breastbone when head is carried up level 2 . 

Shoulders: Broad, oval at top, showing evenness with back and neck, good 
width from top to bottom and even smoothness extending well forward. ..... 6, 

Chest: Large, wide, deep and full ; even underline to shoulder and sides, with 
no creases; plenty of room for heart and other organs; large girth. Brisket 
smooth, even and broad; wide between legs and well forward, showing in front. 12 

Back and Loin: Broad, straight or slightly arched, carrying same width 
from shoulder to ham, surface even, smooth, free from lumps, creases or pro- 
jections; not too Ion? but broad on top, indicating well-sprung ribs; should 
not be higher at hip than at shoulder and should fill out at junctii in with side so 
that a straight edge placed along at top of side will touch. all the way from 
point of shoulder to point of ham; should be shorter than lower belly line.. . . . 14. 

Sides and Ribs: Sides full, firm and deep, free from wrinkles; carrying 
size down to belly; even from ham to shoulder; ribs of good length, well sprung 
at top and bottom 10. 

Belly and Flank: Belly broad, straight and full, indicating capacity and 
room, being about the same or on a level at the flank with underline of the chest. 

Underline straight, or nearly so, and free from flabby appearance 4. 

Hams and Rump: Hams broad, full, deep and long from rump to hoik-. 
Fully developed above and below; wide at point of hip. carrying width well 
down to the lower part of the hams. Fleshy, plump, rounding fullness percep- 
tible everywhere. Rump rounding and gradually sloping from loin to root of 
tail. Broad and well developed all along from loin and gradually rounding to 
ill buttock; lower front part of ham should be full, and stifle well covered with 
flesh. Even width of ham and rump with the back, loin, and body. Greater 
width in females not objectionable 10. 

Legs and Feet: Legs medium length, straight, set well apart and square! \ 
under body, tapering, well muscled and wide above knee and hock ;_ below 
hoik and knee round and tapering, capable of sustaining weight of animal in 
full flesh without breaking down; bone firm and of fine texture; pasterns short 
and nearly upright. Feet firm, shirt, tough and free from defects 10. 

Tail: Tail of medium length and size, smooth and tapering well, and 
earned in a curl ■ 1 • 

Coat: Fine, straight, smooth, lying close to and covering the body well, and 
evenly distributee! 3. 



BREEDS AND TYPES 43 

Points 

Color: Black, with six white points — tip i if tail, f< mr white feet and white in 
face, on nose or point of lower jaw; all to be perceptible without close exami- 
nation; splashes of white on jaw, legs or flank, or a few spots of white on the 
body not objectionable 3. 

Size: Large for age. Condition, vigor and vitality to be considered. 
There should be a difference between breeding animals and those kept or fitted 
for show of at least 25 per cent in size. In show condition, or when fat, a 
two-year old boar should not weigh less than 600 pounds, and a sow not less 
than 500 pounds. Boars 1 year and over, 400 pounds; sows, 350 pounds. 
Boars 18 months, 500 pounds; sows, 450 pounds. Boars and sows 6 months 
old, not less than 160 pounds. All hogs in just fair breeding condition, one- 
fourth less for size. The keeping and chance that a young hog lias cuts quite 
a figure in his size and should be considered, other points being equal. Fine 
quality and size combined are desirable 5. 

Action and Style: Action vigorous, easy and graceful. Style attractive, 
high carriage; and in males testicles should be prominent and of about the same 
size, and yet not too large and pouchy 3. 

Condition: Healthy; skin clear of scurf, scales, and sores; soft and mellow 
to the touch; flesh fine, evenly laid on, and free from lumps and wrinkles; hair 
soft and lying close to the body; good feeding qualities . 2. 

Disposition: Lively, easily handled, and seemingly kind and responsive 
to good treatment 2 . 

Symmetry or adaptation of points: The adaptation of all the points, size, 
and style combined to make the desired type or model 3 . 

Total 100. 

DUROC-JBRSEYS 

The swine which have made the most notable prog- 
ress toward homogeneity, improvement in quality and 
steady advance in numbers and popular favor in the 
quarter of a century prior to 1908, are the now well- 
established Duroc-Jerseys of sandy, bronze or red color. 
This advancement may be traced directly to the "getting 
together" of men in New York and New Jersey, who had 
been breeding hogs of varying and different characteris- 
tics and with no particular similarity other than that they 
were called "red" and grew rapidly to large size, and by 
agreement upon a type toward which they would breed 
thereafter, a common name by which the resulting type 
should be known, and a carefully kept public register of 
the pedigrees of such animals, from the succeeding im- 
provement, as were deemed desirable for purposes of 
propagation. 



44 SWINE IN AMERICA 

[n the years when the advocates of these revised and 
consolidated breeds were making something like an or- 
ganized attempt to bring their stock to the front, say 
about 1880, and before, the red hog - was greeted with 
considerable ridicule and criticism for its coarseness, 
low-bred appearance, lack of uniformity in size and color, 
and the possession of very little that stockmen would 
recognize as style and finish. Evidently, however, some 
source or other gave good blood to a portion of the foun- 
dation stock, and this asserted itself with so marked an 
effect in later breeding and was so supplemented by judi- 
cious selection, mating and feeding', that an excellent 
type resulted, and this, constantly improving, has placed 
the red hogs at the beginning of the twentieth century 
in the first rank. 

The principal material which the new effort had as a 
basis was found in swine that had achieved considerable 
local reputation in New Jersey, particularly in Burlington 
county, where they grew to enormous size and were 
known as "Jersey Reds.'.' A different style of sandy or 
red hogs, with less size and smaller bone, had found much 
favor in Saratoga county, New York, where they were 
known as "Durocs." Tradition has it that the New 
Jersey hogs came from Spain about or perhaps before 
1820, and the Durocs from an English importation made 
at nearlv the same time. The late General Cassius M. 
Clay, of Kentucky, who was an ardent admirer of the 
red hogs raised in some portions of his state, informed 
the author that they were introduced there from Spain 
or Portugal in 1849 or 1850 by James B. Clay when the 



BREEDS AND TYPES 45 

latter was charge d'affaires. General Clay felt confident 
that descendants of these had found their way from 
Kentucky to the eastern states and contributed to the 
improvement of the stock there. 

The Duroc-Jerseys, while they may not have been 
widely exploited as gaining the heavy weights reached 
by overgrown specimens of the Poland-China or Chester 
White breeds, are so nearly the same size as to properly 
be classed as large hogs, and undoubtedly they will, 
under the right conditions, produce as much pork in 
the same length of time and from the same quantity of 
feed as swine of any breed. They are prolific, rearing 
large litters, and are of the most quiet, peaceable dis- 
position. 

Notwithstanding the fact that certain strains of these 
hogs are inclined to coarseness, there are some that 
carry greater weight on smaller bone than those of any 
other breed of which the author has knowledge. In 
fact, in some Duroc-Jerseys, the limbs have appeared en- 
tirely too small to sustain the bodies, yet the animals 
were perfect in their movements and stood as firmly on 
the best of feet and with ankles as erect, sustaining and 
stout as those of a young mule. One respect in which 
the breeders of Duroc-Jerseys have so far failed is the 
securing of uniformity in color. The ideal color toward 
which the more fastidious and ambitious breeders have 
worked is a "cherry red," from which such variatious as 
"bright red" and "dark cherry" are allowable. While 
considerable progress has been made in establishing 
strains with this color, it has, as vet. bv no means become 



40 SWINE IN AMERICA 

the rule. Families of superior merit are seen with all 
shades of rusty yellow, rusty gray, or yellowish or rusty 
brown, often verging close to a dirty black. Others are 
light or dark sandy, and still others have unlimited varia- 
tions of "red," bronze, or copper color. No one of these 
represents a monopoly in quality, for individuals of the 
highest excellence may be found in each color, yet it 
must be admitted that a collection of the cherry red, 
other qualities being equal, affords, by far, the most at- 
tractive exhibit. It is not improbable that eventually this 
color, most popular with the majority, will, with pos- 
sibly slight variations, be the prevailing one for the 
breed. 

Herewith is a scale of points adopted by the American 
Duroc-Jersey Record Association, and description in de- 
tail, prepared by the National Association of Expert 
Judges : 

Points 

Head and Face: Head small in proportion to size of body and wide be- 
tween eyes; face nicely dished (about halfway between a Poland-China and a 
Berkshire) and tapering well down to the nose; surface smooth and even. ... 4 

Eyes: Lively, bright and prominent 2 

Ears: Medium, moderately thin, pointing forward downward and slightly 
outward, carrying a slight curve; attached to head very neatly 2 

Neck: Short, thick and very deep; slightly arching 2 

Jowl: Broad, full and neat, carrying fullness back to point of shoulders 
and on a line with breastbone 2 

Shoulders: Moderately broad, very deep and full, carrying thickness well 
down and not extending above line of back 1 6 

Chest: Large, very deep, filled full behind shoulders, breastbone extending 
well forward so as to be readily seen 12 

Back and Loin: Back medium in breadth, straight or slightly arching, 
carrying even width from shoulder to ham; surface even and smooth 15 

Sides and Ribs: Sides very deep, medium in length, level between shoulders 
and hams and carrying out full down to line of belly. Ribs long, strong and 
sprung in proportion to width of shoulders and hams 8 

Belly and Flank: Straight and full and carrying well out to line of sides. 
Flank well down to lower line of sides 6 

Hams and Rump: Broad, full and well let down to the hock; buttock full 
and coming nearly down and filling full between hocks. Rump should have 
a round slope from loin to root of tail, same width as back, and well filled out 
around tail 10 

Legs and Feet: Medium size and length, straight, nicely tapered, wide 
apart and well set under the body, pasterns short and strong. Feet short, 
firm and tough 10. 

Tail: Medium- large at base and nicely tapering and rather bushy at end 1. 



BREEDS AND TYPES 47 

Points 

Coat: Moderately thick and fine; straight, smooth, and covering the body 
well ." 2 . 

Color: Cherry red, without other admixtures 2 . 

Size: Large for age and condition. Boars 2 years old and over should 
weigh 600 pounds; sows, same age and condition, 500 pounds; boars 18 months 
475 pounds; sows, 400 pounds; boars, 12 months, 350 pounds; sows, 300 pounds; 
hoar and sow pigs 6 months, 150 pounds. These figures are for animals in a 
fair show condition 5 . 

Action and Style: Action, vigorous and animated. Style, free and easy. . 4. 

Condition: Healthy; skin free from any scurf, scales, sores, and mange; 
flesh evenly laid over the entire body and free from any lumps 4. 

Disposition : Very quiet and gentle; easily handled or driven 3. 

T.-tal 100. 

BERKSHIRES 

The Berkshire, a breed extremely popular with many 
in the United States, is native to England, and was 
improved there in the latter part of the eighteenth cen- 
tury, by crossing with Chinese, Siamese and Neapolitan 
stock. By judicious selection and care the breed had 
become one of the most esteemed in all parts of England 
and also in Scotland as early as the beginning of the 
nineteenth century. 

According to A. B. Allen, who was awarded a prize 
of $ioo by the American Berkshire Association shortly 
after its organization for the best collected information 
on the Berkshire breed, "the first importation of Berk- 
shires to America was made in 1823 by John Brentnall, 
an English farmer who settled in English Neighbor- 
hood, New Jersey. The next importation was in 1832, 
by Siday Hawes, an English farmer who settled at Al- 
bany, New York." Other importations followed and 
animals from the New York stock were introduced both 
west and south. 

The Berkshire may be classified as either a medium- 
sized or large breed. The mature animals in breeding 
condition will weigh from four to eight hundred pounds. 



48 SWINE IX AMERICA 

Their size, ready growth, hardiness, easy fattening, do- 
cility, uniformity and wide adaptability, commend them 
to breeders everywhere. Among the qualities claimed 
for them by their advocates are robust muscular power 
and vitality, rendering- them less than others susceptible 
to disease; strong digestive and assimilating powers, 
and prolificacy ; the sows are carefnl nurses and good 
sucklers ; they can be fattened for market at any age, or 
grown to any reasonable weight desired, and they make 
the best quality of pork. The Berkshires are noted for 
their uniformity in reproducing color, marking and 
quality. 

In an early decade following their introduction into 
the United States, there raged in America' what might 
appropriately be called the "Berkshire fever," and 
through the efforts to sell the imported stock at fancy 
prices a mushroom reputation was given the breed by 
speculators. The careless, neglectful methods then in 
vogue with many farmers fell far short of maintaining 
the superior qualities given by English breeding and 
feeding, and deterioration followed. A prejudice arose, 
which for a time impaired the reputation of the stock. 
Since 1865, however, new importations of the best Berk- 
shires of Great Britain have been made, and from the 
organization in 1875 of the American Berkshire Associa- 
tion, an alert and aggressive society, the breed's reputa- 
tion, quality and numbers of the stock have been won- 
derfully enhanced. 

The Berkshire especially makes claim to notice as an 
animal thriving on good pasturage. Where excellent 



BREEDS AND TYPES 49 

grazing is available, the Berkshire holds his own as a 
feeder and pork maker. 

In color, the Berkshires have progressed from the old 
unimproved half-black and half-white, spotted, or reddish 
brown, to black, with some white on the face, jowl and 
tail, and usually with white feet. Their ears arc rather 
erect, though in the aged animals they incline to droop- 
ing, and are medium to small in size. 

A standard of excellence, description and scale of 
points for judging swine were first formulated in 1875, 
at Springfield, 111., by the American Berkshire Associa- 
tion, for the Berkshire breed, and they are as follows: 

Points 

Color: Black, but skin and hair occasionally showing tinge ot bronze or 

copper color, with white on feet, face tip of tail and occasional splash on arm. . 4 

Face and Snout: The latter short broad, and meaty, the former fine, well 

dished and broad between the eyes 9 . 

Eyes: Very clear, rather large, dark hazel or gray 2. 

Ears: Sometimes almost erect, but generally inclined forward, medium 

size 4 . 

Jowl: Full and heavy, running well back on neck 4. 

Neck: Short and broad on top 4 . 

Hair: Fine and soft; inclined to thickness in male 3. 

Skin : Smooth and pliable 4 . 

Shoulder: Smooth and even on top and in line with side, thick through 

chest . . 7 . 

Back: Broad, long, and straight, or slightly arched, ribs well sprung 10. 

Side: Deep and well let down; straight side and bottom line 6. 

Flank: Well back and low down on leg, making nearly a straight line with 

lower part of side 5 . 

Loin: Full and wide 8 . 

Hams: Deep and thick, extending well up on back and holding thickness 

well down to hock 10. 

Tail: Well up on line with back, not too fine, short or tapering 2 . 

Legs and Feet: Short, straight, and strong, set wide apart, with hoofs 

nearly erect and capable of holding good weight 8. 

Size and Symmetry: Size all that is possible without loss of quality or 

symmetry, with good length 7 . 

Style: Attractive, spirited; indicative of thorough breeding and constitu- 
tional vigor 3 . 

Total 100 . 

SECONDARY BREEDS 

Other breeds, while they have strong adherents 
and ma}- in the future rank much higher than at the time 



50 SWINE IN AMERICA 

of making this book, are, so far, of secondary impor- 
tance in numbers and influence in America. These 
are the Yorkshire, Tamworth, Hampshire, Victoria, Es- 
sex, Cheshire and Suffolk. The Hampshire was, for some 
time, known as the Thin-Rind, but at the time of pre- 
paring for exhibition at the Louisiana Purchase Exposi- 
tion at St. Louis in 1904, leading advocates of the breed 
agreed upon the name Hampshire. The Tamworth, 
Yorkshire, Suffolk, Hampshire and Essex are English 
breeds, while the Victoria and Cheshire are American. 

YORKSHIRES AND SUFFOLKS 

Among the so-called bacon breeds, the Large York- 
shire (more generally called in England Large White) 
has attained the most popularity. It is of English origin 
and improvement and in Great Britain there are three 
types, known as the "Large White," "Middle White" and 
"Small White." The last named is also known in the 
United States as the Suffolk, sometimes advocated as a 
distinct breed in America, but it is in no wise essentially 
different from the English Small White. 

The earliest known Large Yorkshire hog was a large 
white animal with enormous drooping ears, and wattles 
hanging from each side of the throat. About 1850 
other white breeds were crossed with the Large York- 
shire, with a considerable improvement in the latter. For 
a time an attempt seems to have been made only to attain 
size, which was quite successful, but to the detriment of 
other qualities. At the larger exhibitions numerous 
specimens weighing more than one thousand pounds each 






BREEDS AND TYPES 5 I 

have been shown. In the United States, their breeding 
is practically confined to the more northern states. The 
first Yorkshires in the United States were probably 
brought from England about 1830, and ten years later 
they were introduced in Ohio. 

The Middle Yorkshire, or as it is known in England 
the Middle White, is an animal of medium size and of 
better fattening type than the Large Yorkshire, which is 
a good growing, but slow fattening animal. The Middle 
Yorkshires are not established as a breed in the United 
States, and those which would be so classified in England 
are often registered as Large Yorkshires in this country. 

The Small Yorkshire is earlier in maturing than either 
of the other two ; is a good feeder and quick fattener. 
In fact, on fair keep it is always fat ana chuffy, and 
never grows to any great size. It is considered too 
prone to fatness for good bacon. Its form is extremely 
compact and its weight when matured 200 pounds or 
above. These swine are not of great fecundity and the 
sows are not good milkers. Like the Essex, Victorias 
and Cheshires, they, as already suggested, cut no figure 
of consequence in the pork production of America or 
elsewhere. 

The American Yorkshire Club has promulgated the 
following description and scale of points for Large 
Yorkshires : 

Points 

Genera. Outline Long and deep in proportion to width, but not massive; 
slightly arched in the back, symmetrical and smooth, with body firmly sup- 
ported by well-placed legs of medium length _ S . 

Outline of Head: Moderate m length and size, with lower jaw well sprung, 

and considerable dish toward snout, increasing with advancing maturity 4. 

Forehead and Poll : Wide 1 . 

Eyes: Medium size, clear and bright, 1 . 

fowl: Medium, not carried too far back toward neck, and not flabby 1. 



5--' 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



Poirtl 

Snout: Turning upward with a short curve, increasing with age 1. 

Ears: Medium in size, standing well out from the head, of medium erection 

and inclining slightly forward 1 . 

Neck: Of medium length, fair width and depth, rising gradually from poll 

to withers, muscular, but not gross, evenly connecting head with body 3. 

Outline of Body: Long, deep and of medium breadth, equally wide a,t 

shoulders, side, and hams; top line slightly arched, underline straight 7. 

Back: Moderately broad, even in width from end to end; strong in loin; 

short ribs of good length 10. 

Shoulders: Large, but not massive, not open above 6. 

Arms and Thighs: Broad and of medium length and development 2. 

Brisket: Wide and on a level with underline 3 . 

Sides: Long, deep, straight and even from shoulder to hip 8. 

Ribs: Well arched and deep 5 . 

Heart Girth and Flank Girth: Good and about equal 8. 

Hind Quarters : Long, to correspond with shoulders and sides, deep with 

moderate and gradual droop to tail 5 . 

Hams: Large, well let down on thigh and twist, and rear outline somewhat 

rounded 10. 

Twist: Well down and meaty 1 . 

Tail: Medium; not much inclined to curl 1 . 

Legs: Medium in length; strong, not coarse, but standing straight and firm 5. 

Hair: Abundant, long, of medium fineness, without any bristles 4. 

Skin: Smooth and white, without scales, but dark spots in skin do not 

disqualify 2 . 

Color: White on every part , 1 . 

Movement : Active, but not restless 5 . 

Total 100. 

TAMWORTHS 

The Tamworth, although said to be one of the oldest 
types known, has very little on record concerning- its 
early establishment. An English authority, who calls it 
the "Mahogany" or "Grizzly" pig, says it was extensively 
bred in several of the midland counties of England early 
in the nineteenth century, when the droves were mainly 
kept in the woods and forests. About 1877 a demand 
grew up for more hogs of a bacon type, and breeders 
of Tamworths brought their favorites to the front. A 
considerable change and improvement in the type came 
about in the succeeding ten years, and in 1882 the first 
importation to the United States is said to have been 
made by Thomas Bennett, an Illinois breeder. The de- 
sire of Canadian breeders to find good bacon animals 
led to the introduction of Tamworth boars into Ontario 



BREEDS AND TYPES 53 

in and following 1888, and most of the stock of that 
breed in the United States has since then been brought 
from Canada. 

The Tamworth is considered slow in maturing, but a 
fairly good feeder, and has obtained a foothold here and 
there where the idea of raising "bacon" is paramount. 
In size, the Tamworth is &rge, averaging 500 to 600 
pounds or more at maturity.- Its head and legs are more 
than ordinarily long, and its ears large. The color is of 
varying shades of "red;" occasional black spots are con- 
sidered an objection, but not an indication of impurity, 
and are not a bar to registration. Even in late years 
some of the best Tamworths have had small black spots, 
but breeders are endeavoring to eliminate these and pro- 
duce stock that will be reliably red. The Tamworth is 
noted for hardiness and activity, and never becomes very 
fat. It is not nearly as popular in any part of the 
United States as it is in Canada. 

Champions of the breed claim it has two character- 
istics for which it is entitled to pre-eminence; viz: An 
unusual proportion of lean meat, and large litters of pigs ; 
also that Tamworths will make as many pounds of gain, 
largely lean meat, from a given weight of feed as will 
hogs of any other breed. 

For three years on the Colorado Agricultural College 
farm the average for all sows was ten live pigs to a 
litter. A two-year-old sow weighing 750 pounds had 
18 live pigs at one farrowing, and a Tamworth at the 
Iowa Agricultural College raised 33 pigs in one year. 

According to H. M. Cottrell "the strongest objection 
to the Tamworth comes from farmers who neglect their 



54 SWINE IN AMERICA 

pigs during the summer when field work crowds, planning 
to give them extra attention in the fall. The surplus fat 
of the lard hog will carry him over a period of neglect; 
the Tamworth does not have the lard." 

The Arkansas station (Bulletin 103) found, in testing 
Yorkshires, Tamworths, Berkshires, Poland-Chinas, Du- 
roc-Jerseys and O. I. C. breeds, that "the Tamworth proved 
least adapted for growth on an exclusive corn ration." 

Many stockmen who have raised other hogs dislike the 
Tamworth, because to them it looks like a "Razor-Back." 
They do not like its long nose, long legs and thin, long- 
body, and think it must be a hard feeder. The first 
cross of a pure-bred Tamworth on other breeds pro- 
duces an easy feeder that matures quickly and is gen- 
erally popular with stockmen. The second cross, one 
authority says, is often unsatisfactory, the pigs in the 
fame litter frequently being of entirely different types, 
some chunky and others extremely lengthy, with a va- 
riety in mixtures of colors. 

The standard of excellence for Tamworths as adopted 
by the National Pig Breeders' Association of Great 
Britain has thus far been accepted and used by Ameri- 
cans, and reads as follows : 

Color: Golden-red hair on a flesh-colored skin, free from black. 

Head: Fairly long; snout moderately long and quite straight; face slightly 
dished, wide between ears. 

Ears: Rather large, with fine fringe, carried rigid and inclined slightly for- 
ward . 

Neck: Fairly long and muscular, especially in boar. 

Chest: Wide and deep. 

Shoulders: Fine, slanting and well set. 

Legs: Strong and shapely, with plenty of bone, and set well outside body. 

Pasterns: Stropg and sloping. 

Feet: Strong, and of fair size. 

Back: Long and straight. 

Loin: Strong and broad. 

Tail: Set on high and well tasseled . 

Sides: Long and deep. 

Ribs: Well sprung and extending well lip to flank 

Jlrllv Deep, with straight underline. 

flank: Full and well let down. 

(. luarti ->s: Long, wide and straight from hip to tail. 



BREEDS AND TYPES 55 

Hams: Broad and full, well let down to hocks. 

Coat: Abundant long, straight and fine. 

Action: Firm and free. 

Objections. Black hair, very light or ginger hair, curly coal, coarse mane, blacV 
spots on skin, slouch or drooping ears, short or turned up snout, heavy shoulders 
wrinkled skin, inbent knees, hollowness at back of shoulders. 

HAMPSHIRES 

The Hampshire, known in its earlier days as the Thin- 
Rind or Belted hog, has been given recent popularity be- 
cause of the quality of its meat. It is said to have been 
imported from Hampshire, England, to Massachusetts, 
between 1820 and 1830, by a ship owner named Mackay 
living in Boston, although the evidence is not clear that 
these hogs were then belted. They were known in Mas- 
sachusetts, where they obtained some popularity, as 
Mackay hogs. The true belted Thin-Rind seem to have 
been preserved in Kentucky, to which state they were 
brought from Pennsylvania by Major Joel Garnet in 
1835. They were popular in central Kentucky, and from 
there were taken to Illinois, and in addition to being 
called Thin-Rind were sometimes spoken of as the 
rhinoceros hog. They are not widely disseminated. 

The American Thin-Rind Record Association, com- 
posed of the breeders of this type, concluded that the 
appellation Thin-Rind was misleading, and in January, 
1904, the name of the Association was changed to "The 
American Hampshire Swine Record Association," and 
individuals of the breed it represented were the same 
year shown at the World's fair in St. Louis as Hamp- 
shires, in deference to their supposed origin in Hamp- 
shire, England. The breed known in England as 
Hampshire is, however, of a different type, being black. 



56 SWINE IN AMERICA 

The American Hampshire is of good size, weighing 
300 pounds and above at 12 months, an excellent grazer 
and of good fecundity. The sows rank well as mothers 
and nurses, with good dispositions. They are hearty, re- 
sponsive feeders, with the desirable quality of bone, and 
of a style that suggests the "bacon" rather than the "lard" 
hog. Some of them are a little inclined to legginess, and 
to have quite long, sharp faces. They are not dish faced, 
and their ears are of moderate size, pointing forward 
rather than erect or drooping. The breed is especially 
distinguished by a white belt encircling the forepart of 
the body, from four or five to 12 inches wide and in- 
cluding the forelegs. The color is otherwise chiefly black. 
These swine do not always breed true to color, many 
being born entirely black, and others but partly belted. 

The American Hampshire Swine Record Association 
uses the description and scale herewith as indicative of 
what a first-class Hampshire should be : 

Point: 

Head and Face: Head medium length and rather narrow ; cheeks not full; 
face nearly straight and medium width between the eyes, surface even and 
regular 4 . 

Eyes: Bright and lively, free from wrinkles or surrounding fat 2. 

Ears: Medium length, thin, slightly inclined outward and forward 2. 

Neck: Short, well set to shoulders, tapering from shoulders to head 2 . 

Jowl: Light and tapering from neck to point, neat and firm 2 . 

Shoulders: Deep, medium width and fullness, well in line with back 6. 

Chest: Large, deep, and roomy; full girth, extending down even with line 
of belly 12 . 

Back and Loin: Back straight or slightlv arched; medium breadth, with 
nearly uniform thickness from shoulders to hams and full at loin; sometimes 
higher at hips than at shoulders IS. 

Sides and Ribs: Sides full, smooth, firm; carry size evenly from shoulders 
to hams; ribs strong, well sprung at top and bottom 8. 

Belly and Flank: Straight and full, devoid of grossness; flank full and 
running nearly on line with sides _ 6. 

Hams and Rump: Hams of medium width, long and deep; rump slightly 
rounded from loin to root of tail; buttock full, neat and firm; devoid of flabbi- 
ness or excessive fat 10. 

Legs and Feet: Legs medium length, set well apart and squarely under 
body; wide above knee and hock, and rounded and well muscled below, taper- 
ing; bone medium; pasterns short and nearly upright; toes short and firm, 
enabling the animal to carry its weight with ease 10. 




Duroc-Jersey Sow, My Choice 




A Great Duroc-Jersey Boar 




A Prize- Winning Duroc-Jersey Boar 




A Great Duroc-Jersey Sow 



BREEDS AND TYPES 57 

Points 

Tail: Medium length, slightly curled 1 . 

Coat: Fine, straight, smooth 2 . 

Color: Black, with exception of white belt encircling body, including 
forelegs 2 . 

Size: Large for condition; boars 2 years and over, 450 pounds; sows, same 
age, 400 pounds; 18 months boars, 350 pounds; sows, 325 pounds; 12 months 
boars or sows, 300 pounds; 6 months, both sexes, 140 pounds 5. 

Action and Style: Active, vigorous, quick and graceful; style, attractive 
and spirited 4. 

Condition: Healthy; skin free from all defects; flesh evenly laid on and 
smooth and firm; not patchy, and devoid of grossness 4. 

Disposition: Docile; quiet and easily handled 3. 

Total 100. 

VICTORIAS 

The name Victoria has been applied to two different 
types of swine, not related in origin. One known as the 
"Curtis Victoria" was introduced by Col. F. D. Curtis of 
Saratoga county, New York, and developed by crossing 
native hogs of Irish Grazier blood with the Byfield, and 
by subsequent crosses with the Yorkshire. The name is 
said to have been given from a sow known as Queen 
Victoria. 

The "Davis Victoria" was obtained by breeding to- 
gether Berkshires, Poland-Chinas, Chester Whites and 
Yorkshires, by George F. Davis of Lake county, Indiana, 
Colonel Curtis introduced his type about 1850, and the 
Davis breed was developed some 20 years later. Most 
of the Victorias now bred trace to the Davis stock. 

The Victoria will weigh around 500 pounds at ma- 
turity. It is white and resembles in appearance the 
Middle White or Yorkshire. It is sometimes spoken of 
as the "White Berkshire." Its meat is well liked and 
its breeding qualities are said to be good. Special claims 
made for animals of this breed are that they have a bone 
quality which makes them excellent shippers; that they 



58 SWINE IN AMERICA 

cross well with other breeds, and while they are white 
they do not scald or blister by the sun as other white 
pigs are liable to do in the West. 

The Victoria Swine Breeders' Association uses the fol- 
lowing' scale of points and description : 

Points 

Color: White, with occasional dark spots in the skin 2 . 

Head: Small, broad, and face medium dished 3. 

Ears: Fine, pointing forward 2 . 

Jowl: Medium in size and neat 1 . 

Neck: Short, full and well arched 3 . 

Shoulders: Broad and deep 7 . 

Girth around Heart: .• . . 6 . 

Back: Straight, broad and level 12 . 

Sides: Deep and full 6 . 

Ribs: Well sprung 7 . 

Loin : Broad and strong 12. 

Flank: Well let down 2. 

Hams: Broad, full and deep, without loose fat 12 . 

Tail: Medium fine and curled 2 . 

Legs: Fine and straight 3 . 

Feet : Small 3 . 

Hair: Fine and silky, free from bristles 3 . 

Action : Easy and graceful 4 . 

Symmetry: Adaptation of the several parts to each other 10. 

Total 100. 

ESSEX 

The Essex, a small black hog, has been known in 
America since the early part of the nineteenth century, 
but has never secured a very wide popularity. It is 
more especially adapted to raising in a small way for 
family use than for commercial purposes. The Essex 
of the United States and the Small Black or Suffolk of 
England are said to be practically the same. They are 
good feeders, earlv maturers, and produce meat of ex- 
cellent flavor, but with a large proportion of fat. 

CHESHIRES 

The Cheshire originated in Jefferson county, New 
York, about the middle of the nineteenth century. It 



BREEDS AND TYPES 



59 



has also been known as the Jefferson County hog, or 
Jefferson County White, and is supposed to be the re- 
sult of crossing a Yorkshire boar upon native sows 
having considerable Suffolk blood. The Cheshire is al- 
ways white, with a pinkish skin, and in conformation is 
not essentially different from the Englishman's Middle 
White or Yorkshire. The face, while dished, is only 
slightly so. The ears are small and fine, and although 




CHESHIRE BOAR 



pointing somewhat forward are quite erect. The body is 
of good length, with good hams and shoulders and a 
rather broad back, somewhat arched. Cheshire legs are 
a little too light in the bone, and in this respect need 
improvement. The breed may be ranked as either of 
medium or heavy weight, individuals being made to 
weigh up to 600 pounds dressed, if desired. It is favor- 
ably known for its fecundity and the quality of its flesh. 
The Cheshire, although of a good sort, is very seldom 



6o 



SWINE IX AMERICA 



seen west of New York and its popularity has never 
been more than local. 

A scale of points adopted by the Cheshire Swine 
Breeders' Association reads thus : 

P., in- s 

Head: Short to medium in length; short in proportion to length of body. 8. 

Face: Somewhat dished and wide between the eyes 8 . 

Jowl: Medium in fullness 3 . 

Ears: Small, fine, erect and in old animals slightly pointed forward 5 . 

Neck: Short and broad 3 . 

Shoulders: Broad, full and deep 6 . 

Girth around Heart : 8 . 

Back: Long, broad and straight nearly to root of tail 10. 

Side: Deep and full, nearly straight on bottom line 7 . 

Flank: Well back and low down, making flank girth nearly equal to heart 
girth i 3 . 

Hams: Broad and nearly straight with back, and running well down 
towards hock 10. 

Legs: Small and slim, set well apart, supporting body well on toes 10. 

Tail: Small, slim and tapering 3 . 

Hair: Fine; medium in thickness and quantity 3 

Color: White. Colored hairs disqualify 2 . 

Skin: Fine and pliable, small blue spots objectionable but allowable 3. 

Symmetry: Animal well proportioned, handsome and stylish 8. 

Total 100 . 




CHESHIRE SOW 



MISCELLANEOUS SORTS 

Aside from the distinct breeds, a few miscellaneous 
sorts are known in America, but they are without stand- 
ing-. These are : The Razor-Back, as the wild or semi- 
wild hoo- of the more southern or Gulf states and Mexico 



BREEDS AND TYPES 6 I 

is called; the Guinea; the Mule-Foot or solid-hoofed; 
and the Cuino. Domesticated swine have been traced 
back in origin to the wild hog, and remarkable changes 
have been observed of the manner in which wild speci- 
mens kept in confinement will take on the appearance 
and flesh of those that are the product of man's im- 
provement. On the other hand, improved varieties 
turned out to shift for themselves have assumed all the 
characteristics of wild hogs, although observations in 
New Zealand have shown that animals once domesticated 
do not revert to as wild or solitary a disposition as is 
noticeable in the undomesticated types. Experiments in 
confining wild animals have shown that advantages at- 
tained through years of domestication are valuable be- 
cause they have been secured and made permanent by 
very slow processes, and that the opinion sometimes ad- 
vanced that crosses with the Razor-Back or other un- 
tamed stock will give a much hardier and "cholera- 
proof" constitution is without substantial foundation. 

MULE-FOOT HOGS 

The Mule-Foot or solid-hoofed hog is reared, but to 
an extent scarcely appreciable, in the southwestern part 
of the United States, and is said to be common in some 
portions of Old Mexico in considerable numbers. There 
are some in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas, and a few 
have found their way to Missouri and Indiana. There 
was organized at Indianapolis, Indiana, in January, 1908, 
"The National Mule-Foot Hog Record Association," 
composed of Indiana breeders, which is to record and 



62 SWINE IN AMERICA 

publish pedigrees and promote the dissemination of these 
solid-hoofed swine, which are claimed by their admirers 
to be in all respects equal to those of other breeds, be- 
sides having a vitality that makes them strangers to 
ordinary diseases, and "cholera-proof" ! 

Hogs of this family are mainly black, with more or 
less white points or markings, have coats of soft hair, 
fairly gentle dispositions, fatten quite easily, and can be 
made to weigh at two years or more from 400 to 600 
pounds, and sometimes heavier. As a matter of fact 
they have no particular merits not possessed by other 
breeds, but their having solid instead of cleft hoofs 
makes them, as freaks, objects of curiosity to most per- 
sons, and the type, regardless of merit, will not be with- 
out admirers for this one feature, if for no other. At 
the first auction sale of these hogs, in Johnson county, 
Indiana, in the autumn of 1908, twenty-three sows 
brought an average of $32.50 each and six boars $20.10 
each. One sow sold for $60. 

Many of these hogs have wattles on their lower jaws. 
These consist of a round or teatlike piece of skin or 
tissue hanging on each side of the lower jaw, covered 
with hair, and on a full-grown hog are from three to 
four inches long. 

In southern Missouri and northern Arkansas these 
swine are designated as "Ozark hogs." Various state- 
ments of their origin are extant, but no . one knows 
definitely about it. which is of little consequence, al- 
though thev are well enough in their way. 



BREEDS AND TYPES 6$ 

GUINEA HOGS 

The so-called Guineas are a red or sandy kind of hog, 
known while slavery was in existence in the United 
States, and no doubt they were first imported here from 
the Guinea coast of western Africa in slave-trading 
ships. They are thought to have been brought to the 
United States soon after 1800, and perhaps had some 
influence in developing the present Duroc-Jerseys. The 
author has been unable to find any domesticated red hog 
in any country where the slave trade did not exist, but 
it is found in almost every country where the captured 
Guinea negro slaves were landed. In Texas a breed 
of black hogs partially of Essex blood is known as the 
Guinea-Essex. They are solid black and have no red 
or sandy color. A Portuguese hog was known over a 
number of eastern states for some years before the Civil 
war. They were first imported to Massachusetts for the 
Daniel Webster farm, but upon landing were sold to 
New York and Vermont farmers. These and the Jersey 
Red hogs were all of a red or sandy color. 

THE CUINO* 

There exists in some sections of Old Mexico a type of 
"hog" represented as the product of crossing a ram with a 
sow, and the term "Cuino" has been applied to this rather 
violent combination. The ram used as a sire to pro- 
duce the Cuino is kept with the hogs from the time he is 
weaned. A resident of Mexico has given the following 
description of the Cuino: "The sow used to produce the 

* The origin of the Cuino, as given, is not vouched for hy the author. 



04 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



Cuino belongs to any race, but, as a rule, to the Razor- 
Back family, which is the more numerous. There is 
never any difficulty with her accepting the ram when 
breeding time comes. The progeny is a pig — unmis- 
takably a pig — with the form and all the characteristics 
of the pig, but he is entirely different from his dam if she 
is a Razor-Back. He is round-ribbed and blocky, his 
short legs cannot take him far from his sty, and his 
snout is too short to root with. His head is not unlike 
that of the Berkshire. His body is covered with long, 
thick, curly hair, not soft enough to be called wool, but 
which, nevertheless, he takes from his sire. His color is 
black, white, black and white, brown and white. He is 
a good grazer and is mostly fed on grass, with one or 
two ears of corn a day. and on these he fattens quickly. 
The Cuino reproduces itself and is often crossed a second 
and third time with a ram. Be it what it may, the Cuino 
is the most popular breed of hogs in the state of Oaxaca, 
and became so on account of their propensity to fatten 
on little food." 

PECCARIES 

Under the name of peccary are included two species 
of forest-dwelling mammals of the hog family native to 
America. Thev differ radically from the domesticated 
swine, particularly in having but 38 teeth, as against 44 
in the domesticated breeds, and the hind feet being 
three-toed. In general appearance they somewhat 
resemble small hogs, except for very slender legs, entire 
absence of tail, and for their much elongated snouts. 



BREEDS AND TYPES 05 

On the rear extremity of the backs of both male and 
female is a gland which secretes a very fetid fluid. They 
are not esteemed for or much used as food. If taken 
young they are easily domesticated, but do not cross 
with the common hog. The females give birth to young 
but once a year, usually to one and sometimes to two. 
Of the two species the Collared peccary (Dicotylcs tor- 
quatus or Dicotylcs tafacu), presumably known to the 
Spanish speaking inhabitants of the southern part of 
the United States and Central and South America as 
"javelina," ranges from southwest Arkansas and Texas 
west possibly as far as California and south to Pata- 
gonia. They forage in couples or in small herds of 
eight or ten. The White-Lipped peccary (D. labiatus) as- 
sociates in large herds, and its range is comparatively 
small, including only the region between British Hon- 
duras and Paraguay. 

WILD HOGS 

In the delta of the Colorado river, not far from the 
borders of Arizona and California, are wild hogs de- 
scribed as "razor-backed, long-limbed, sharp-tusked, fast 
as horses, shifty as jackrabbits and when cornered, fe- 
rocious as tigers.'' Tusks of the old boars are spoken 
of as "scimitar-shaped, razor-sharp, needle-pointed and 
enormous, and driven by a sinewy neck will lay open 
anything softer than a plate of chrome steel." There 
are no great numbers of these swine, and they are grad- 
ually being killed off by parties of Mexican hunters who 
slaughter them for meat. It is tradition that they are 



66 SWINE IN AMERICA 

descendants of domestic hogs taken to the region in 1886, 
in connection with a colonization scheme which was aban- 
doned, but there is a popular belief that an admixture 
with the peccary or javelina has had something to do 
with giving them "their suppleness, their murderous tusks 
and but slightly less deadly forehoofs." 

Wild hogs, generally spoken of as Razor-Backs, are 
found to some extent in Arizona, New Mexico, and the 
swamps of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Florida, but 
of a somewhat different type from the wild hogs of 
Europe. They are gradually disappearing as the country 
where they range becomes populated, the land cultivated 
and the merits of improved stock better appreciated. 

LINCOLNSHIRE CURLY COATED SWINE 

In 1909 Prof. C. S. Plumb imported for the Ohio State 
University a small number of what are called Lincolnshire 
Curly Coated pigs, from Lincolnshire, England. Animals 
of this breed have a white skin and a very curly, thick coat 
of white hair, but dark spots sometimes occur on the skin. 
The head is short, rather straight, and the ears lop over 
and are a trifle thick. The back seems some wider and 
stronger than is usual in the British breeds, and perhaps 
with more ham and less length of leg. These Lincolnshires 
have been termed both a bacon and a general purpose breed. 

"The Lincolnshire is said to be very hardy, and a good 
doer under ordinary circumstances, roughing it easily in 
England. The sows are prolific and have nice litters and 
are good mothers." The breed is entirely new to Amer- 
ica, and its merits here are vet to be tested. 



CHAPTER V. 

Practical Points in Breeding 

Perhaps the best suggestion that can be offered the 
man who raises hogs is that he should strive for the 
golden mean, avoiding" extremes in any phase of the 
business. There are many temptations to go too far, and 
success often comes from knowing- when and where to 
stop. Corn is a wonderful feed, and in its territory 
swine raising is on a secure basis, but the farmer who 
relies too much on corn and neglects the properly asso- 
ciated feeds will force his hogs into the weak-footed 
brigade, exposed to the assaults of disease through lack 
of proper development. On the other hand, a man may 
go too far in seeking the adapted ration, as did the 
farmer who fed his hogs concentrated lye to soften and 
make digestible the grains in the hogs' stomachs ; the 
grain was no doubt softened, but the hogs died before 
the beneficial effects, or rather action, of such a carefully 
adjusted diet could be ascertained. Caution tempered by 
common sense should be the general motto. 

If the beginner will start with not more than two or 
three sows, in pig when purchased, he can acquire much 
valuable experience with even so small a number, while 
his risks will not be great. The next year he may add 
to the number of sows, secure a suitable boar, and by 
slow but careful increase in the number of sows bred 

67 



68 SWINE IN AMERICA 

each year, if good management and freedom from dis- 
ease prevail, should soon find himself with a profitable 
herd. 

SELECTION OF BREEDING STOCK 

Many practical questions enter into the first selection 
of boars and brood sows, not the least of these being the 
facilities and pocketbook of the man who is doing the 
buying. The beginner in swine raising may learn much 
from books, papers and breeders' meetings regarding 
the ideal hog, only to find, after all is said and read, 
that financially he is in no position to stock up at prices 
he may regard as high, yet not too high. The great 
majority are so situated. While the author of this vol- 
ume firmly believes in the advantages and importance of 
registered stock, he recognizes that most men who raise 
swine are not so equipped that they can apply the methods 
best suited for handling - a $5,500 boar or a sow simi- 
larly related to the nobility. He has endeavored, there- 
fore, to set forth the best methods that have come under 
his observation, without going far outside the range of 
the average man who raises hogs to sell for slaughter. 

The hog has won his place in great part through the 
fact that he is profitable alike to rich and poor, and a 
man with limited resources may make more money with 
a like number of hogs, and often does, than the possessor 
of a plethoric bank account. A restricted area, make- 
shift shelter and the less expensive feeds, handled in a 
small way but to best advantage, may be utilized for the 
attainment of a much higher status. 



PRACTICAL POINTS IN BREEDING 69 

Selection according to type is of greater importance 
than selection by breed, for the latter is controlled mainly 
by the owner's situation and personal tastes, but the type 
has to do with the constitution, capacity and general 
merit of the hog', and, whatever the breed, there are cer- 
tain points that make for a good or a poor hog, as they 
may be found prevailing or lacking. 

A rather short, broad, more or less concave face, 
wide between the eyes, terminated sometimes, but not 
always, by a somewhat upturned muzzle, is deemed 
extremely important for what it suggests with further 
reference to the individual possessing it. It says to the 
hog's owner, "This animal is of a quiet disposition, and 
has- strong digestive and assimilative powers, likely to 
extract the most nutriment from the food consumed, 
and convert it into valuable product, with small prob- 
ability of wasting much of it through restless energy." 

The well-rounded and somewhat prominent jowl, 
along with the short head, suggests quick-feeding qual- 
ity and early maturity in the animal managed for these 
objects. 

A medium-sized, soft, silky ear, somewhat thin and 
inclined to droop, goes in most breeds with high quality 
and light offal, as large, heavy ears and tail, thick skin 
and coarse hair and bone go with flabbiness and heavy 
offal; while the erect, foxy, pointed ear, straight, almost 
convex face, and sharp, long nose generally advertise 
a too nervous activity, poor fattening qualities, and 
perhaps viciousness. 



7° 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



A deep chest, which is wide between the forelegs, 
indicates that the animal is probably of robust constitu- 
tion, with plenty of lung room for deep breathing; it also 
signifies a hardiness that successfully resists or repels 
the many diseases which seem to constantly lie in wait 
for the defenseless pig. 

A not too long, slightly arched back, broad by being 
well packed with muscle (lean meat) on each side of the 
spinal column, which constitutes the part known as ten- 
derloin, tells of strength in various ways, as .well as of 
added weight. 

If the top of the rump is built backward quite level, 
without much slant, to the setting on of the tail, not too 
low down, and the thighs are fleshy, full and large, firm 
rather than flabby, and well meated in the twist, with 
the flesh spread thickly toward the hocks, it means a 
large ham; and it need not be said that the ham is a 
considerable proportion of the very highest priced meat 
in the carcass. This is an important consideration to 
grower and butcher. 

Sides of considerable length and depth, with an even 
underline, mean a goodly weight of meat, which, if not 
extremely fat and thick, are the material for a high 
quality of bacon; while, if very fat, they make much of 
what is known as "side-meat," esteemed by those who do 
hard labor as their most economical and palatable animal 
food. 

Rather short, stocky legs are likely to be found on the 
pig with the deep sides, and are much of an index to 
the animal's general character and constitution. They 




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PRACTICAL 1'OINTS LN BREEDING 7 1 

should be neither too Jine and small, nor too large and 
spongy, but amply strong for supporting the animal at 
any age or weight. The ankles should be strong, so 
that the hog stands firmly and walks squarely on short, 
broad feet, without difficulty and without signs of being 
in any wise crippled. Faulty breeding and a corn diet 
for many generations have tended to defective, sprawl- 
ing feet, and weakness in the lower limbs of many of 
the otherwise almost perfect swine. These are defects 
which breeders should strive to overcome by selection, 
mating and properly balanced diet. Animals so vitally- 
weak in one part are likely to have kindred weaknesses 
in other parts such as no careful breeder wishes to pos- 
sess or propagate. 

Abundant hair, lively and somewhat fine and soft, 
growing out of a pliable skin, which is neither thick 
nor papery, and free from mangy conditions, tells the 
story of robust health, vigor, thrift and active circula- 
tion. 

The ideal hog should not be too sleepy and sluggish, 
nor, on the other hand, restless and uneasy. Free action 
and a bright, sprightly manner are signs of good diges- 
tion and good health. If he is a comfortable, good- 
natured, friendly creature, wide-awake, disposed to visit 
with his owner, instead of running away from him, and 
has the other points of excellence mentioned, he can 
scarcely fail to be a joy to his possessor and approxi- 
mate, in the eyes of many, a thing of beauty. 

Balanced breeding is as essential as balanced feeding: 
the burden of excellence should not be placed upon the 



/- 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



boar alone, nor solely upon the sow, and it is only by a 
combination of the merits from both parents that the 
best results are had. It is not good breeding when his 
sows have become so effeminate and so high-bred that 
the owner is led to think he must buy a coarse, rangy 
boar to correct, by what amounts to violence, the defi- 
ciencies which are the result of wrong methods. The 
boar and sow should complement each other, and, as 
a general rule, the sows should be roomy, broad and 
maternal in appearance, while the boar ought to be more 
compact, and well built, yet none the less robust, rugged, 
and masculine. The rule is a good one that what one 
parent lacks in desirable qualities should be conspicuous 
in the other, but it is a requirement the necessity for 
which should be prevented so far as possible, the better 
procedure being to prevent serious lack of quality, con- 
formation, or stamina in either sires or dams. 

Progress in breeding has not been without its develop- 
ment of bad tendencies. Probably the most noticeable 
retrogression in later years has been toward too weak 
bone and cartilage. The heavier types, or what are 
sometimes called the "lard hogs," often lack the firmness 
of bone and strong ligaments their weight requires. No 
one breed is by any means the sole sinner in this respect, 
nor is it a defect confined to the hog of pedigree. It is 
evident from the frequent complaints of "hogs breaking 
down;" and the inability of a hog to stand firmly up on 
his toes, with a pastern joint but slightly curved, tells 
the tale of insufficiency of hard, firm bone stayed by firm 
connecting tissues. The pasterns should be slightly 



PRACTICAL POINTS IN BREEDING /3 

springy; not depressed so the dew claws tend to drop on 
the ground. It is highly important that deficiency in 
bone and ligament be avoided by the selection of breed- 
ing stock that will stand up well on its feet, and equally 
as urgent that the breeder should keep in mind the dete- 
riorating effects of feeding corn exclusively, and guard 
against sacrificing proper framework because a carcass 
of fat may appear less expensive. 

Breeding- from immature animals is not to be com- 
mended. It has no particular effect upon early maturity, 
unless through the possible stunting of the pigs because 
of the fact that their dam has not obtained her own 
proper development. Mature parents will yield larger, 
healthier and more robust litters, in every way better 
equipped to bring the profit the owner is working for. 
During pregnancy the sow is compelled to do double 
duty in sustaining herself and building her young, and 
if she is forced to provide growth for herself as well as 
for a litter of pigs she cannot be expected to do full 
justice in either behalf, even if, as is frequently not the 
case, she is provided with proper care and food. A suc- 
cessful Illinois breeder with large experience has well 
said : "The common practice of each year selecting 
young gilts to breed and breeding them to young boars 
has done more to reduce stamina and prolificacy than 
any other one thing; besides, it reduces the size and 
number of pigs at birth. We have never discarded a 
sow that proved a good breeder until she was so old that 
she quit breeding. We have kept sows until ten and 
12 years old, and one until she was 13. It does not 



74 SWINE IN AMERICA 

cost much to carry them over from the time they are 
through suckling- until the next litter is farrowed." 

Breeding should first of all make for stamina, no 
matter what type or color may have been the breeder's 
selection. Any tendencies which point to impairment of 
constitution are likely to be accentuated in the offspring, 
and, persisted in, will sooner or later bring a breeder to 
grief. Probably the greatest fault of improved swine 
breeding is the mating and striving for a too great re- 
finement, especially by breeders of pure-breds, and indi- 
cations of this should cause the breeder immediate con- 
cern. 

This does not necessarily mean that Razor-Back or 
other uncivilized blood is required to restore or add vigor, 
or that new breeds are essential because, perchance, 
many hogs of noble lineage appear to have been too 
much pampered, or are delicate or effeminate. There is 
abundant corrective material in each of the well-recog- 
nized and established improved breeds, and the man who 
aspires to attain any high place as a breeder and looks 
for foundation stock from other sources is but throwing 
his time and his money away. 

"If you want to get the largest size possible in your 
boar and sow." says a prominent and very successful 
hog raiser, "do not use them until well toward maturity, 
or at least until a year old. This will give a chance for 
large growth before they are put to breeding, and will, 
in the case of the sow, make her about 16 months old 
before she farrows. If well fed and properly cared for, 
she should weigh 400 pounds or more and farrow strong 



PRACTICAL POINTS IN BREEDING 75 

pigs of good size. If the sow proves a good breeder and 
stickler, I would recommend raising- two litters a year 
from her till she is too old to produce well. In our own 
business we are great believers in old breeding animals, 
and sometimes keep them till ten to 12 years old." 

In many phases of swine husbandry the question of 
location or climate has an important bearing. Where 
mild weather is apt to be the rnle in late fall and early 
spring, breeding for two litters a year will obviously be 
considered in a different light than in a section much 
farther north. The breeder in Canada or on the Atlan- 
tic coast will modify many matters regarding breed or 
feeds that are accepted gospel in the corn belt. Locally, 
the extent and kind of pasture at the breeder's disposal, 
like his other facilities and resources, will, to a greater or 
less extent, influence his practices. 

Investigations show that the litters will average about 
an equal division of sexes at birth. The United States 
Department of Agriculture received reports in 1907 of 
the litters of 1,477 sows - m 2 4 states, which included 
the Berkshire, Poland-China, Duroc-Jersey, Chester 
White, Large Yorkshire, Hampshire, Tamworth and 
Ohio Improved Chester breeds. The average litter was 
about nine pigs to the sow, and of 13,285 pigs, 6,660 
were boars and 6,625 sows. This is relatively 201 boar 
pigs to 200 sow pigs, or almost an equal number of 
each sex. 

INBREEDING 

Much has been said and written against inbreeding, 
and it is a problem in dealing with which much judgment 



y6 SWINE IN AMERICA 

and discrimination are necessary. Indiscriminate in- 
breeding is reprehensible in the extreme, and should^ be 
preached against in season and out of season, but judi- 
cious inbreeding has made possible the superior indi- 
viduals, families and breeds now so common in all im- 
proved animal husbandry. Inbreeding in itself is not to 
be inveighed against so much as the mating of animals 
liable to reproduce undesirable qualities. A summing 
up, in a sentence, of what the experience of the years 
has demonstrated as to inbreeding would be this : Super- 
vised by an artist, inbreeding is admirable; in the 
hands of a bungler, it may be worse than bad. 

N. H. Gentry of Missouri, known everywhere as one 
of the most successful swine improvers and breeders in 
any country, says: "My experience in inbreeding is 
that by it we intensify what we have, let it be good or 
bad, let it be weak or strong in constitution. The theory 
advanced by the mass of people, to the effect that we 
diminish size and weaken constitution, is all wrong unless 
the strain we are inbreeding lacks size as a rule, or lacks 
constitution. Animals with plenty of size and a vigorous 
constitution can have these traits intensified as certainly 
as we can lessen them by inbreeding with strains lacking 
these essential traits. If we can intensify the one it 
seems to me as reasonable that we can the other; so a 
man's success in inbreeding will depend upon what he has 
to inbreed with. Rightly and intelligently done, I have 
never been able to detect any bad results whatever from 
inbreeding". It has always been strange to me that almost 
every person who has never given the subject any study 



PRACTICAL POINTS IN BREEDING JJ 

whatever has a decided notion that inbreeding is dan- 
gerous. I presume our fathers tell us this simply be- 
cause their fathers told them so and their grandfathers 
before them, and not one in many thousands has ever 
given the matter any trial or serious thought. Even 
with a trial it does not follow that every case will be a 
success, any more than the mating of animals not re- 
lated will be a success in every case. The animals mated, 
whether kin or not, must be suited to produce good re- 
sults ; that is, have no weakness in common, and as much 
good as possible." 

A. J. Lovejoy of Illinois, a close and practical observer 
in the business of breeding - the highest class of Berk- 
shires, expresses this belief: "We are believers in quite 
close, even inbreeding. We find the greatest show ani- 
mals closely inbred. Sires to half-sisters is the most 
common form of close breeding, though cousins, nephews 
and nieces, and even brothers and sisters, are bred to- 
gether with great success. It of course requires good 
judgment in mating animals that are particularly strong 
in individual merit. Should each have a bad defect in 
any way, we would expect that to be more manifest in 
the offspring, and likewise the good points would be 
better; so if one mates equally good specimens the pro- 
duce will be an improvement. There is no other sire of 
any breed so prepotent as an inbred sire. When we get 
to the point where we feel the need of outside blood we 
mate an imported sow with our best boar, and from this 
litter we select a boar to use on the get of his own sire 
from other sows in the herd ; that is, we breed this boar 
on his own half-sisters." 



-8 SWINE IN AMERICA 



Professor Eugene Davenport reaches the conclusion 
that "anyone who will take the trouble to study the pedi- 
grees of famous families in almost any line of stock 
breeding will find that the foundation blood is most in- 
tensely bred. Indeed, the practical breeder working with 
material that is really of distinctive and peculiar merit 
comes soon to the point at which close breeding is inev- 
itable, and he must face the issue sooner or later if he 
is to make any real use of his valuable creations. To 
breed them out is but to dissipate their excellence, and 
the only practical course is close breeding." 



CHAPTER VI. 

The Boar: Selection and Management 

Success with the boar involves careful and timely se- 
lection, and a management always influenced by the fact 
that the head of the herd, if incompetent, or ill-bred and 
ill-fed, can degrade herd standards even when mated 
with the best of sows, while, if he is what he should be, 
the produce of inferior sows will invariably be improved 
by his use. He is sire for the pigs of many dams, and 
his general influence is, therefore, much greater than 
that of any sow can possibly be. 

It matters not how many sows a man has, or how much 
pains he may have taken that they be of the highest qual- 
ity, if he permits this quality to be neutralized by the use 
of an inferior boar. However well the boar may look, if 
in breeding he is a mongrel — a cross of this, a little of 
that, and not much of anything in particular; or if indi- 
vidually he is well bred, but has been overworked, over- 
fed, or not fed enough while young, or perhaps is of 
delicate constitution, he may, and likely will, beget an un- 
thrifty, weedy progeny, inheriting largely of his weak- 
nesses and want of character, with very little of the good 
that apparently was in him. By one or two seasons' 
use of such a sire it is possible to undo the improve- 
ment in a herd it may have cost years of painstaking 
effort to attain. Hence, in choosing, one of the first 

79 



8o SWINE IN AMERICA 

and principal requisites is that he shall be well bred; not 
simply good individually, but a descendant of meritorious 
parents on the side of both sire and dam, in which pos- 
session of the most valuable qualities is known to be 
inherent. It is important to know well his ancestry, be- 
cause his power of transmission and desirable breeding- 
qualities cannot otherwise be prejudged with any degree 
of accuracy. The standard of quality maintained by his 
immediate ancestry is the safest suggestion of what he 
himself will do. If their ancestors, too, have clean rec- 
ords in this respect, and their descendants have equaled or 
improved upon them, that much is in favor of estimating 
the boar as a probably good sire. If, on the other hand, 
they have produced litters of varying and unprofitable 
types, mixed lots of pigs, without uniformity, unsatis- 
factory alike in appearance, in growth and in profit, it is 
indeed wisdom to avoid selecting a boar likely to trans- 
mit family tendencies of that kind. 

The pedigree is simply a certificate of ancestry, and 
unless it shows good ancestry is of no more practical 
value than that much waste paper. It should back up the 
animal, but if the animal fails to back up the pedigree as 
well there is probably something wrong in one or the 
other, and "hands off" would be good advice. 

THE MATTER OE CHOICE 

The average farmer cannot afford an extremely high- 
priced boar, and, while the boar that will bring $q,ooo 
may, in the right place, pay a profit on the investment, 
the ordinary breeder is compelled to do the best he can 



THIi BOAR: SELECTION AMD MANAGEMENT 8 I 

with the money at his command. Although the buyer of 
a boar may feel that his limit in price is restricted, he 
should be determined to secure the best his resources will 
permit, even though he makes somewhat of a sacrifice to 
do so. In any event, the animal that he selects should be 
pure-bred, of such breed as the owner may deem best, 
for if not pure he cannot be depended on to stamp his 
own qualities on his offspring-, as only thoroughbreds do. 
The boar of mixed and unknown breeding is to be 
shunned as a delusion and a snare. If the Berkshire or 
a Berkshire cross is preferred, a registered Berkshire 
boar should be used. If the Poland-China seems most 
suitable, use a pure Poland-China boar; or if the Duroc- 
Jersey cross promises the best results, use a pure Duroc- 
Jersey boar. Do the same with one of any breed that 
may be pref erred. To use a sire that is a mixture of 
several breeds, however meritorious or pure they may 
individually be, is likely to mean poor, uncertain and un- 
satisfactory progress. 

There are certain attributes belonging to a good boar 
which should appeal alike to the man who can make but a 
small outlay and to him whose object is to get the best re- 
gardless of cost. The buyer should be familiar with these 
and should see them, as far as is possible, in the animal 
he selects. They will not all be prominent in one animal, 
but, so far as range of selection will permit, they ought 
to be characteristic in him, and are worth both time and 
effort, and perhaps some additional money, to secure. 
The breeder may find it profitable to keep in mind that 
it is not so much the extra $5 or $10 or $15 he may be 



82 SWINE IN AMERICA 

called upon to give for the right boar as it is the addi- 
tional price his pigs will be intrinsically worth and will 
bring, and it is through them that the extra cost and 
more will be returned. 

MASCULINITY ESSENTIAL 

Masculinity in the boar is a characteristic always to be 
sought. A strong development of the head, neck, shoul- 
ders, bones and organs of reproduction are very impor- 
tant, as they suggest three most essential qualities : Vigor, 
prepotency and constitution. Masculinity should be in- 
dicated bv strength, vitality and stamina, but it need not. 
even in the remotest way, denote coarseness. A fine 
external form is the result of a superior internal organ- 
ism. A masculine head, stout, well-crested neck, broad 
and deep chest, smooth but well-developed shoulders, 
wide and well-coupled, well-fleshed back, ribs well 
sprung, strong loins, large heart girth, deep sides, ready 
action, strong legs and ankles and upright feet are all 
useful points to carefully consider in the selection of a 
herd boar. A short, broad face, with round, heavy under 
jaw, and thick, short neck, indicate strong vitality and 
assimilating powers, two functions requisite in every 
first-class, meat-producing animal. Width between the 
forelegs and large girth immediately behind them denote 
room for large and active lungs, the very best foundation 
for any animal. 

Ribs that are long and well sprung outward from the 
back show capacity of stomach. The broad loin and well- 
developed ham are signs of active kidneys. A clean, 



the boar: selection and management 8$ 

fine and elastic skin, covered with soft, lively hair, free 
from bristles, denotes a healthy liver and freedom from 
internal fever. A fine muzzle and limbs, clean, small 
joints, and standing square upon the feet, denote sub- 
stance, strength and firmness in the animal's framework ; 
while the dished or concave face and slightly drooping 
car are unerring signs of an easy keeper and a quiet, 
contented disposition. These are some of the features 
demanded in a good boar, and such an animal in perfect 
condition will not be sluggish and clumsy, but will have 
a lively, animated manner and move about freely and 
nimbly, unless kept in too close confinement on too much 
fattening or other unsuitable food. Each point of excel- 
lence should make for symmetry, and properly related 
parts give compact, desirable form. A boar highly de- 
veloped in one part with another elsewhere noticeably 
weak is not to be taken in preference to one of all- 
around moderate excellence of development, except 
where such an undue development appears to be needed 
because of its lack in the sows. This is a point which 
should always command attention. What the sows 
lack or have too much of in bone or build or qual- 
ity ought to be guarded against in the boar. Thus, if the 
sows are too refined and their development appears to 
have been overshot, there is an object in allowing some- 
what of coarseness in the boar. This should be guarded 
against where possible, in selection of the sows, as well 
as the boar, by aiming toward a uniformity of type 
without extremes or weaknesses; but consideration 



84 SWINE IN AMERICA 

should be given to defects apparent in the sows when 
the boar is selected. 

Strength of leg in bone, tendon, ligament and muscle 
is important, and the animal with weak pasterns should 
be avoided. The boar that cannot stand up squarely 
on his feet is likely to prove of unsatisfactory breeding 
service. Much is said in the farm papers about hogs 
"breaking down," a condition which may result from 
wrong feeding, but which, regardless of its first cause, 
no breeder wishes to perpetuate by weakly built sires or 
dams. Danger from this infirmity is not to be lost sight 
of. An effeminate frame, delicate features and legs and 
a tendency to walk upon the pastern bones stamp the 
boar as wrongly fed, overbred or of a faulty ancestry, 
accordingly weak in constitution, and likely to be a 
disappointing sire. 

S031E EXTERIOR INDICATIONS 

As S. M. Shepard has well said in his excellent book, 
"The Hog in America," and also to the author, the skin, 
hair, eyes and tail are all outside sentinels which tell 
whether the internal organs are working properly. "If 
the eye is clear and bright, the hair smooth and lying 
close to the body, and the skin soft, elastic, moist or oily 
to the touch, and the tail carried in a curl, the internal 
organs are doing their duty; on the contrary, if the eve 
is red, watery or dull, the hair dry, harsh atid standing up 
from the body, the skin harsh and dry, and the tail hang- 
ing straight and lifeless, there is something wrong inside, 



the boar: selection and management 85 

and as these symptoms are more or less intense, they in- 
dicate acute or chronic weakness, and lack of constitu- 
tion. Well may it therefore be said that constitution is 
of the greatest importance. There is always unity in 
animal nature. A fine external form is the result of su- 
perior internal organism. Then, in selecting breeding- 
swine, select those which have broad, straight, or 
slightly arched backs, large, deep chests, full sides and 
flanks, good, tough, stout feet and legs, bright, lively 
eyes, smooth, soft and close-lying hair, and a soft, elastic 
skin. Such an animal will likely have a good constitu- 
tion. On the other hand, avoid sunken and narrow backs, 
flat, narrow chests and sides, pinched flanks, weak, 
crooked or deformed legs and feet, harsh, dry hair, dull, 
red or watery eyes, and -a harsh, dry skin." 

A GOOD DISPOSITION VALUABLE 

A boar's disposition has much to do with his work. 
There have been famous boars with ugly dispositions, and 
good animals are sometimes ill-behaved because of asso- 
ciation with indifferent owners who lacked in patience 
and had bad tempers. These facts should be given due 
weight, yet it should be remembered that in disposition 
the hog that is wanted is one that comes near to have his 
hack scratched. A friendly, manageable, quiet dispo- 
sition is a great aid to profitable swine raising, while 
the boar of quarrelsome, fighting nature is a money loser. 
Much of this, too, is as applicable to the owner as to the 
animal. Fretfulness, natural at the breeding age. or in 
surroundings tending to promote it, should not be mis- 



86 SWINE IX AMERICA 

taken for a bad disposition. At certain periods the boar 
is naturally a restless animal, and then he requires more 
than the ordinarily judicious management, the lack of 
which may make him an intractable, uneasy or vicious 
creature, but in the mature animal this is likely to be de- 
veloped one way or the other so that his disposition may 
be judged with measurable correctness. 

SELECT THE BOAR AT HIS HOME 

The best place to select a boar is at his home on the 
farm, where he will be found in accustomed surroundings 
and in everyday dress. Here a far better estimate may 
be made of his merits and defects and his family char- 
acteristics than under the dress parade glare and mani- 
curing of an exhibition, or the artificial conditions sur- 
rounding and in an auction sale ring. His disposition and 
that of his caretaker, which are of importance, may here 
be observed, and an idea gained of the methods and man- 
agement in his bringing up. Not a few buyers are 
willing to pay a larger price for an animal in show con- 
dition, but this is not always wisdom. An abundance 
of fat may conceal serious defects which would be 
quickly noticeable in an animal in breeding condition. 
.As a rule it will be found less expensive to put a hog in 
show condition, if that is desired, than to pay others 
for doing it. The average breeder, too, lacks the skill 
to safely reduce an overfed boar, pampered and fitted 
for the show circuit, to a condition and form for great- 
est usefulness in a herd, and attempt to do so may result 
only in impotence or inefficiency for the season, if not 




Hi! 
PC "■ 



tjie boar: selection and management 87 

permanently, and perhaps the loss outright of the ani- 
mal itself. At his home the boar's family charaeteristies 
and breeding traits may be better learned than in any 
other place, and the purchaser can better discover whether 
the animal selected comes, as he should, in a majority of 
cases, from a family or strain that is, as he himself 
should be, somewhat more compact that the females 
upon which he is to be used, or if he is otherwise suit- 
able to correct in the offspring the deficiencies possessed 
by the sows. 

After taking a boar to a new home it is generally 
preferable, at first, to follow, so far as may be practi- 
cable, any rational system of management and feeding 
to which he has been accustomed, until he shall have 
become acquainted with his new attendant and surround- 
ings. 

CHOOSING BY PERSONAL INSPECTION 

Whenever possible the breeder ought to inspect per- 
sonally the animal he selects as his herd boar, but when 
he finds himself unable to do this and has no competent 
representative, he should endeavor to make the best se- 
lection possible by mail by detailing his needs, and the 
deficiencies of his sows. Ordering by mail should be 
considered a last 'resort, to be done only when the pur- 
chaser cannot buy near home, or for other good rea- 
sons is unable to give his personal attention to the 
matter. When that is the case the purchase should be 
made from a breeder known to be reputable, and the needs 
of the buyer and the price he figures on paying should be 



88 SWINE IN AMERICA 

definitely stated in the letter as the attitude of one who 
expects the best possible for his outlay. All men who 
have had much to do with the selling of pure-bred boars 
are familiar with the buyer who insists that "you must 
get him down as low as you can — he must be cheap, as I 
have written to a number of other breeders." A man of 
this stamp is likely to want a boar of almost impossible 
attainments for a very small sum of money. He is less 
likely to do well in his purchase than the man who will 
frankly state the type of boar he needs and the amount of 
money he can afford or intends to invest. The chances 
are, too, that the latter procedure will bring much the 
better treatment. 

It is undeniable that many who pay a liberal price for a 
boar that suits them afterward treat him in such a way 
that they derive but small benefit from the investment. 
One of the two most common modes of mistreatment is 
to confine him in a close pen, where he is deprived of ex- 
ercise and fed upon the richest and most fattening food 
the establishment affords, and lack of activity and virility 
are the results. The other mode is to turn him in with 
an unlimited number of sows, gilts and stock hogs to fight 
and fret and tease until he becomes the shabbiest, the 
most ungainly, unthrifty, discreditable hog on the place. 
Both of these extremes are to be avoided and a more 
rational method followed or the best results cannot be 
secured. While too close confinement is bad, it is not so 
bad as to allow a boar to roam at will among the other 
hogs of the farm, where he is as much out of place as a 
stallion w<>uld be turned loose with a herd of horses. 



the boar: selection and management 89 

When a new boar is brought to strange surroundings 
or a new home the change should preferably be made 
some six or eight weeks before he is needed for service. 
If from a distance or by shipment he should be dipped, 
and isolated or quarantined for half of this period to 
guard against the possible introduction by him of any 
disease. No matter how little liability to disease may 
come from his former home there is still the chance that 
he may have acquired deadly germs in transit. Preven- 
tion is always safe. 

If the trip has been a long or hard one he should be 
lightly fed at first, and any desirable changes from the 
feed to which he has been accustomed should be made 
gradually. Time is necessary in a majority of instances 
to get the boar into good breeding condition, which us- 
ually means, if he is from the shows or auctions, that he 
will need more muscular development and less fat. Ex- 
ercise and flesh-forming foods should enter into his care 
at this period. Exercise is important to the boar when 
he is not in service and essential to develop his muscle and 
vigor. 

PRIZE-WINNING NOT PROOF OF EXCELLENCE 

The fact that either a boar or sow has been awarded a 
prize, of whatever grade, at an exhibition, does not neces- 
sarily prove possession of unusual excellence, nor should 
such an award alone be accepted for a moment as proof 
of superiority unless the circumstances of its making and 
the extent and character of the competition met are 
carefully considered. The prize may have been unavoid- 
ably placed where it was because of little or no high-class 



90 SWINE IN AMERICA 

competition, or the person or committee making the 
award may have been incompetent, biased, or even cor- 
rupt, although it is the opinion of the author that very few 
mis-awards are due to sheer dishonesty on the judge's 
part. Again, whether a prize winner or not, an animal 
highly fitted with a view to its successful competition 
against others it is likely to encounter in the hotly con- 
tested show ring of any considerable latter-day exhibi- 
tion, while possibly not injured for breeding, certainly 
has not been intrinsically benefited in any wise thereby, 
unless it be for the shambles. The fitting may reveal a 
perfection of individual quality that otherwise could be 
no more than suspected, but it adds nothing of value to, 
and in fact may detract much from, any improving 
qualities transmissible to offspring. Still again, an ani- 
mal may possess an individual excellence that is beyond 
question (a freak or sport may have this), yet its good 
looks alone give no reliable assurance that its progeny 
will inherit the same characteristics. The show pig, 
champion though it be, is not perforce the best purchase 
or parent. 

THE PEDIGREE 

As Doctor A. S. Alexander of the Wisconsin experi- 
ment station, discussing pedigree, says, it is a record 
showing the animals that have in succession entered into 
the breeding of the individual. "It shows, too, that he 
belongs to a distinct breed, possessing, therefore, the pre- 
potency of that breed, and in addition to this possession 
it guarantees a certain degree of individual prepotencv 



the boar: selection and management 91 

dependent upon the excellence and known prepotency of 
the ancestors on each side of the pedigree. To insure 
both breed prepotency and individual prepotency the ani- 
mal should have several recorded animals upon the dam's 
side, the more the better, and the more certain will be the 
good breeding qualifications of the pedigreed animal. 

"The sires should be of equal merit, and the most im- 
portant point is to see that they are of known purity of 
blood and individual excellence ; also that upon neither 
side is there an objectionable outcross or the presence of 
a sire or dam noted for unsoundness or other objection- 
able trait, character or feature. Furthermore, the char- 
acter of the man back of the pedigree should be taken into 
account. The pedigree is comparatively valueless unless 
the breeder and seller are noted for integrity ; nor is a 
pedigree a sufficient criterion of merit or an apology for 
individual imperfection or unsoundness. The animal 
should be a good individual, and if, in addition, there is a 
long line of excellent ancestors upon both sides of his 
pedigree, there will be good reason to expect that he will, 
with considerable fidelity, transmit to his progeny the true 
characteristics of his breed, those of his family and those 
of his individuality. 

"In some instances an animal with a long line of 
reputable ancestors is himself a comparatively poor indi- 
vidual, yet he may prove an impressive sire, and, on gen- 
eral principles, the somewhat indifferent individual that 
has a fine line of ancestors, as shown by his pedigree, is 
greatly to be preferred to a 'scrub,' grade or cross-bred 
animal for breeding purposes. We say this for the good 



92 SWINE IN AMERICA 

reason that his progeny will be quite likely to partake of 
the good qualities of the ancestry rather than the indif- 
ferent qualities of the individual. There are many ex- 
ceptions to this rule, and experiment is, therefore, the 
sure way of proving the prepotency of the individual. 
It is always best, however, to choose a sire that has both 
excellent breeding and individual excellence of form and 
quality in every respect." 

AGE FOR SELECTION 

It does not follow by any means that the handsomest 
pig will make the best boar, and selection at an early, im- 
mature age involves much guesswork, which is bad policy 
in any corner of the farm. Possibly the other fellow, 
who comes early, and, as it were, buys the pig in a poke, 
may get the best, but under the law of averages it is less 
expensive to pay the extra dollars for the animal more 
nearly matured and let the other fellow do the gambling. 
The boar's worth and possibilities may be sized up then 
with greater certainty and with a degree of knowledge 
not attainable when he is still at an immature age. If al- 
ready tested he has then available proof of his breeding 
quality. At the same time it is desirable to make a se- 
lection and do the moving of a new boar long enough in 
advance to have him feel at home in his new quarters, 
and, when the breeder is well enough situated to permit 
liis doing so, to test out his mating qualifications so that 
it may be known with greater certainty that he is in 
those respects all that should be expected. This, in many 



the boar: selection - and management 93 

cases, is not feasible, but at any rate the boar is not an 
animal to be purchased at the last minute before he is 
needed, and the buyer should allow himself time to be 
sure of a judicious selection. 

For heading a farmer's herd it is much more desirable 
to choose a boar from a stock that has shown its practi- 
cal worth in farm pork making than one from a so-called 
fashionable ancestry, and he should have been reared 
under about such conditions as will surround him in his 
new home. 

Where selection of a young boar from a home litter is 
made he should be separated from his mates at or before 
he is five months of age. Many breeders favor allowing 
him the companionship of one or more male hogs of simi- 
lar age, castrated or otherwise, in order gradually to 
accustom him to the changing situation ; and for other 
reasons this may be excellent. 

The boar of eight months or older will do better if kept 
by himself; at least, he should not be where sows or gilts 
may arouse him. He should be kept in a comfortable 
pen, with a lot or pasture adjoining, and supplied with a 
variety of nutritious food, which means something more 
than dry corn with an occasional drink of diluted dish- 
water. The permanent quarters should be provided with 
a view to furnishing sunlight, exercise, dry warmth and 
cleanliness. These should be so located that the sows 
may be conveniently brought to him for service. A 
large pen is not needed — ten feet square will do — but a 
yard and pasture should each be adjacent. The yard will 
be needed for service and for his exercise in the breeding 



94 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



season, and the pasture, which may he an acre, or less, 
should afford him water, shade, grass, alfalfa, or other 
succulent food. 

A pen or fence sufficiently high and strong to restrain 
the other hogs of the farm cannot be depended on to 
keep the boar in place, and, if opportunity offers, he may 
soon become extremely unruly; consequently, it is much 
the best to keep him from the first in an inclosure which 
will afford him no practice in the art of breaking out. A 
boar that has once learned a bad habit, especially that of 
breaking from his inclosure, will thereafter be a great 
deal more difficult to manage, and sometimes one which 
would otherwise have been entirely tractable is made dif- 
ficult of restraint because the fence has been too weak, or 
in some other way he has been permitted to escape. If 
his quarters are sufficiently isolated from those of other 
hogs, especially sows and sow pigs — some of which are 
likely to be in heat most of the time — he will usually be 
quiet and gentle ; in fact, a pretty well-behaved hog, 
though much depends upon his natural disposition and 
more upon the treatment given him. Aged boars are 
sometimes disposed to viciousness and to use their tusks, 
but even then they are no more dangerous than the gen- 
tlest bull or stallion may be, and, of course, neither is de- 
sirable or intended for a household pet or a dooryard 
ornament. 

AGE FOR SERVICE 

As to the age at which the boar should commence 
service the best rule is to avoid service during imma- 






THE BOAR: SELECTION AND MANAqEMENT 95 

turity. Immature sires cannot be expected to beget a 
vigorous progeny. Use before he is a year old should 
mainly be with a view of testing his ability, and such tests 
should be infrequent. He may sometimes be used to ad- 
vantage on a few sows after eight or nine months old, 
but. as a rule, it is more profitable to defer service while 
the animal is attaining the best of his growth. At a 
year old reasonable service will do no harm, and, prop- 
erly kept, he should be at his best as a sire from then to 
five years old, when he is fully developed and has every 
advantage over a partly grown pig; the finest, strongest 
litters are invariably obtained from large, old sows bred 
to matured boars. 

The first service may require considerable patience. A 
young boar will sometimes refuse to give service at first, 
but it does not therefore follow that he will not be a 
useful animal. He may generally be expected to give 
better service in the second year than in the first. 

One service to a sow is sufficient, and from it she will 
have as many and as good pigs as there would be if the 
boar was permitted to chase and worry her for three days 
and nights. The most experienced breeders agree in this, 
and will allow but a single service. Many breeders, how- 
ever, do not seem to realize that double service to a sow 
is the equivalent of using a boar on two different sows, 
and not infrequently a breeder who would vigorously 
combat the idea of allowing two or more services in a 
day will himself leave a sow with a boar to be served five 
or six times. The sow should be brought to the boar's 
quarters, allowed one service and then removed. The 



96 SWINE IN AMERICA 

service should be a satisfactory one, for the sow may be 
a shy breeder. Service is generally considered prefer- 
able on the second day the sow is in heat. 

THRIFT AND FEED 

The boar's condition should always be that of thrift 
and vigorous health, not too fat, nor yet so lean that as 
a barrow he would be considered unfit for pork. If too 
fat he will be clumsy, slow, and in no wise sure. Discre- 
tion must be used in the feeding of the boar, for careless- 
ness in this respect may disqualify him for the season or 
even make him permanently impotent. It is possible to 
so poorly feed a boar that his progeny will be exactly the 
kind his owner does not want. His feed should be 
nourishing and cooling, and if corn is given it should 
be tempered with feeds which are somewhat laxative, and 
be used in moderation. When service is severe his exer- 
cise may be greatly lessened, and his proper feeding is the 
means of balancing this inequality. 

Regarding feed for a young boar, N. H. Gentry says : 
"Corn, oats and wheat ground fine and mixed in a thick 
slop, with clover pasture, make a splendid ration. Oil 
meal tends, I think, to make a hog too soft. It would be 
difficult to surpass the ration of soaked shelled corn 
( shelled corn soaked in pure water thirty-six to seventy- 
two hours) and milk, together with clover pasture. I am 
a firm believer in the simple, natural foods. W. A. 
Harris used to say that he bred Shorthorns that thrived 
on the natural foods of the farm. I would not give 
much for a hoo- that would not do the same." 



THE BOAR : SELECTION AND MANAGEMENT 97 

When not in service succulent feeds, such as pasture or 
green forage, should prevail, supplemented by shorts, 
middlings, bran, peas or other nitrogenous feed, with a 
little corn. In winter roots will prove beneficial, and 
may be used with bran, shorts and corn meal or similar 
feed. Cut clover hay, well cured, or alfalfa, is advan- 
tageous. With the boar, as with all other hogs, a variety 
of food is relished and responded to. With a range of 
grass he can better assimilate a ration of any kind of 
grain. 

TEMPORARY 1MPOTENCY 

In case a boar proves impotent, although previously a 
good breeder, he should be examined for a possible in- 
jury or some ailment which may interfere with copula- 
tion. Where nothing is found which calls for treatment 
he should be withdrawn from service, permitted oppor- 
tunity for exercising freely, and be fed a light diet. At- 
tention should be given to the condition of his bowels, 
and, if necessary, they should have proper regulation. A 
dose of mix vomica, pulverized dried sulphate of iron and 
pulverized gentian root, 15 grains of each, mixed with 
his feed twice a day, is recommended. 

Another treatment consists in giving in the drinking 
water once a day a tablespoonful of hyposulphite of soda 
dissolved in a quart of water. A quart of boiled wheat 
mixed with two eggs may be put in with his feed for a 
few days.* 

A boar found impotent should have at least a month's 
rest, preferably two months, with the run of a pasture. 

♦Veterinary Editor, Breeder's Gazette. 



98 SWINE IN AMERICA 

Even the use of the whip is advisable if necessary to 
make him exercise. The service following treatment will 
be experimental, and, if unsatisfactory, it is better not to 
take further risk with the animal unless he is of unusual 
value. At this time, as in the beginning, the fact should 
be taken into account that the condition of the sows may 
also have had a bearing on the failure. 

Many farmers breed less than a dozen sows, on an 
average, at any one season of the year, and to keep a 
matured boar in the best condition is felt to be quite an 
expense by one man with so few sows. Where three or 
four swine raisers live in proximity to one another it is 
no doubt the best and cheapest plan for them jointly to 
own and use one strictly high-class boar, instead of each 
keeping wholly at his own expense one that "he thinks 
will do," although not so good as he would like and 
would afford if the first cost and subsequent expense and 
care were not so great. Properly managed, one boar 
would, in many cases, answer every purpose as well as 
half a dozen for that number of small farmers, and his 
cost and keep, if shared by all, would scarcely be felt, 
while at the same time the temptation to use some mon- 
grel or immature pig would be removed, the boar would 
be better kept, and the rivalry naturally resulting would 
encourage each of the owners to keep a better grade of 
sows. 

PRACTICAL TESTIMONY 

Practical testimony regarding selection and manage- 
ment is of special value when it comes from men of 



THE BOAR : SELECTION AND MANAGEMENT 99 

known successful experience. The paragraphs that fol- 
low give a little such testimony: 

"There is certainly no excuse now for anybody buying* 
a grade boar," says Henry Wallace, editor of Wallaces' 
Farmer. "Comparatively few farmers do. Do not 
economize in buying the boar, provided he is a good indi- 
vidual and well bred. There are not enough good hogs 
to go around. A wise and judicious breeder and feeder 
is very apt to know what his stock is worth and demand 
it and get it. Therefore, do not let live or ten dollars 
stop you from buying the animal you want." 

"A boar untried and out of condition is a risky chap," 
says L. N. Bonham, "that the prudent man will test be- 
fore he risks him on his herd. I have found it a safe 
rule to hold onto the good sire until I have tested another. 
It is sometimes inconvenient to keep an old boar long* 
enough to see what the young one will prove to be, but 
it is safest not to put all our eggs in one basket." 

"I don't believe in using a boar too often," says N. H. 
Gentry. "I don't like to use him immediately after feed- 
ing. Sometimes we use a boar twice a day, and then 
probably have two or three or four days when we will 
not use him at all. We prefer to scatter these services 
along, but have, of course, no way of regulating the time 
when sows will come in heat. Sometimes we find our- 
selves with three or four in heat and must use a boar two 
or three times a day, but not very often. Tf I use a boar 
twice in a day I like to let him miss service afterward 
for a day or so. I think once a day is doing very well." 

A correspondent of the Breeder's Gazette visited the 
herds of twenty-three prominent breeding farms, from 



IOO SWINE IN AMERICA 

Lowell, Mass., to Edgar, Neb. His report showed that 
the most successful boars are treated with as considerate 
attention as might be given a valuable stallion or bull. 
"It will be seen," he summarized, "that the hogs that arc 
achieving success as sires are not kept in a pen and fed 
corn and water. Too much attention cannot be given 
the boar, and it is not at all sufficient that he be fed lib- 
erally only when in service. His health and comfort 
should be looked after carefully throughout the year. If 
you have one not so worth looking after, dispose of him 
and get one that is, even if he costs a house and lot." 

A. J. Lovejoy, who sold the boar Masterpiece 77000 
for $2,500 in 1906, the highest recorded price for a Berk- 
shire up to that time, said : "So far as handling Master- 
piece or any other boar is concerned, we give him lots of 
exercise and good hearty feed, keep him in fair breeding 
condition and do not use him too much. Our manager of 
the hogs would only let Masterpiece to one sow a day for 
two successive days. Then he would have him rest a 
day and use him another two days. Every time he is 
used he walks forty rods from his home to the breeding 
house. The sow is taken from her mates the night be- 
fore and put in a crate where she can't see other hogs. 
In the morning, before breakfast, the herdsman walks the 
boar down to the breeding house and lets him lie there 
until after breakfast. Then he uses him, and immediate- 
Jv puts the sow in a dark, quiet place until she is out of 
heat. He lets the boar lie for half an hour and then 
walks him back home. We give him his breakfast after- 
ward. By having lots of exercise and not too many 



THE BOAR : SELECTION AND MANAGEMENT JOI 

services the boar is always on edge. We very seldom 
have to breed him to the same sow a second time." 

AGE FOR RETIREMENT 

As long as the boar shows vigor and his get are satis- 
factory he may be profitably kept in the herd. When 
that time has passed he should be castrated, pastured 
through the summer and fattened in the fall. Such an 
animal is known to the trade as a "stag," and usually 
sells at a price much lower than a barrow of the same 
weight and apparent quality. If castrated early in the 
season and kept on grass during the summer the flesh, 
when he is made fat, will be far less rank than it would 
be otherwise. Kept with other hogs, if quarrelsome, 
there is danger that a stag may do them injury with his 
tusks, if he has them, hence it is desirable to fatten such 
a hog by himself. It is at this period that the old boar's 
true proportions will show themselves, as he will take on 
fat very rapidly and generally present a greatly improved 
appearance. When slaughtered, the strong taste that 
might otherwise appear in his meat may be avoided, it is 
said, by removing the sheath at once after killing and 
without waiting for dressing. In case the animal slaugh- 
tered is a boar the testicles should also be immediately 
removed. 

REMOVING THE TUSKS 

A reader of the Homestead gives a practical method 
of removing tusks from a boar, reported in that paper as 
follows : "He prefers tying up by the upper jaw and put- 
ting a slipknot back of the upper tusks. The hog will pull 



102 SWINE IN AMERICA 

back and keep the rope tight ; one man stands astride the 
hog and puts a hardwood stick about one and one-fourth 
inches thick in the boar's mouth ; takes hold of both ends, 
pulls it back as far as he can and holds it there. Another 
man should then put some straw on the ground, get down 
on his knees, and, with a three-cornered file, file a good 
notch in each corner of the tusk; then put the point of 
an iron wedge in one of the notches and tap it with a 
hammer, when the tusk will break squarely off. He 
would then, with a Hat file, smooth the stump down to the 
jaw. He thinks if this procedure is followed the hog 
will give thanks and say, 'You have done a good job and 
it did not hurt much.' " 

THE SIRE MOKE THAN HALF THE HERD 

In his valuable work, "Principles of Breeding," Prof. 
Eugene Davenport says : "It has become a proverb that 
the sire is half the herd. He is far more than that. He 
is half of the first generation, three-fourths of the next, 
seven-eighths of the third, and so on, until, if judicious 
selection be maintained for a few generations, the char- 
acter of the herd will be fixed by the sire alone. This 
being true, the folly of maintaining a sire with but two 
or three high-class females is evident ; he should have 
larger opportunity. All this means that, as a beginning, 
numbers are of more consequence relatively than quality 
on the side of the dam, and that if the breeder must 
choose between the two it is better to put a given amount 
of money into a good number of plain females than into 
a smaller number of high quality, but that in all cases the 



THE BOAR : SELECTION AND MANAGEMENT IO3 

sire should have quality and plenty of it, because of the 
principle here stated. 

"In many lines of breeding, size in the sire is consid- 
ered by many breeders as of first importance. This is 
against reason and biological principles. YYe need in 
the sire all the desirable characteristics possible, and these 
are most readily found in animals of medium, not ex- 
treme, size. It is comparatively easy to get size alone, 
and this can be gotten on the side of the dam. The 
swine herd must depend for uniformity largely upon the 
sire, and he should be freed as much as possible from the 
requirement of size. 

"In the matter of prepotency, neither parent has any 
particular advantage over the other. But this refers to 
a single offspring, and is only a part of the question. 
The real difference is one of numbers. The sire may 
produce perhaps a hundred in a season, while the dam is 
limited to one individual or at most (among hogs) to 
two litters. For purely mathematical reasons, therefore, 
the female is of vastly less consequence in herd or breed 
improvement; indeed, wherever polygamous mating oc- 
curs. It is here a question of numbers and opportunity. 
As regards these, the upper limit of the male is very high 
and of the female very low, which fact teaches the neces- 
sity of extreme care in the selection of the sire, not so 
much for biological as for numerical reasons. The single 
female is, therefore, comparatively insignificant. Unless 
she be one of the few phenomenal breeders her individual 
power for good is exceedingly low, and the readiness of 






104 SWINE IN AMERICA 

many buyers to pay extreme prices for females, especially 
of cattle, is wholle unaccountable. 

"It is never too early to seek a new head to an estab- 
lished herd. Proved sires are seldom for sale, and the 
only recourse for the breeder is to prove his own ; indeed, 
what he needs is a sire that will produce well with his 
females. 

"It takes much time and often many trials to find a 
worthy successor to the head of the herd. Putting it off 
too long, and a feeling of fancied security, are the two 
causes of leaving a herd without a head, and of the 
enforced evil practice of using an untried sire." 

A useful fact to remember is, that regardless of his 
having or lacking a fancy head and ear, the really valua- 
ble parts of a hog are behind his ears. Another is that it 
requires unusual skill to take a pampered boar from the 
fairs, loaded with fat, and reduce him to a condition in 
which he will be most valuable for service. A young 
boar, thrifty and well conditioned, fresh from pasture, is 
the one, other things being equal, from which most satis- 
factory results can be expected. 

SUMMARY 

By way of summary of the points enumerated in this 
chapter, it may be said that the best results will be ob- 
tained from a pure-bred boar that shows desirable char- 
acteristics, is masculine, is somewhat more compact than 
the females he is to be used upon, and strong in points in 
which they are deficient. He should be the best the buyer 
can purchase, and it is unwise to let a matter of a few 



the boar: selection and management T05 

dollars govern in making a selection. He should be cared 
for apart from the other hogs, and be given plenty of ex- 
ercise and nutritions rather than fattening foods. He 
should be naturally, and because of proper handling, an 
animal of quiet disposition and an easy breeder. Pre- 
ferably his service should not begin in ordinary cases long- 
before he is a year old, and they should be continued 
while he proves himself worthy. A matured boar should 
be able to serve 60 sows in a season, but where there are 
two or more services necessary in a day it is well to allow 
every second or third day for rest; more than two serv- 
ices a day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, 
are not usually profitable. In general, the boar's condi- 
tion should be thrifty, neither too fat nor by any means 
run down; and this applies as much out of the breeding 
season as during: that time. 






CHAPTER VII. 

The Sow: Selection and Management 

The breeder's judgment may possibly yield him great- 
est profit through his judicious selection of a boar, but 
skill in handling and management may be demon- 
strated to a greater extent with the brood sow. His 
intelligence — not to say genius — is tested not merely in 
selection and mating, but even more in feeding and care 
during pregnancy and at and after farrowing. In all 
this the sow is not alone the object of concern; the life 
and development of the pigs, and the returns in conse- 
quence, good or bad, are largely dependent on the breed- 
er's skill in selecting the sow and in her proper treat- 
ment throughout her career, and especially from mating 
to the time of weaning her pigs. 

In managing the brood sow a breeder is dealing with 
nature, and so far as he possesses knowledge and ability 
his methods should be in compliance with nature's laws. 
It does not follow that his work must be crude or conflict 
with science, for, on the contrary, it is his business to 
apply the laws of nature under the most favorable condi- 
tions he is able to command. Neither is it necessarily to 
be inferred that elaborate shelter or other expensive 
equipment and thousand-dollar stock are essential. A 
breeder may begin his enterprise in a very modest way. 
and yet by good management achieve a foremost place 

10G 



THE SOW : SELECTION AND MANAGEMENT IO; 

among his contemporaries. In fact, most of the top 
notch swine breeders began in a small way. 

RETAIN THE WORTHY SOW 

A foundation herd ordinarily will be started with 
young sows, and, whether they possess the most aristo- 
cratic blood or are a "poor man's" pigs, those which 
prove worthy should be retained as long as they are sat- 
isfactory producers. Many will sell a young sow which 
has produced less than the most profitable litter of pigs at 
her first farrowing without really having given her op- 
portunity to show her capabilities; they will repeat this 
practice, and cheat themselves in so doing. A sow's re- 
productive ability should increase each year to her ma- 
turity, and at that period she may have not only large 
litters, but such as will prove superior in both growth 
and quality. As a mother a sow is called upon to fur- 
nish double power — for her own sustenance and for 
giving a family of pigs a start in life. If she has not 
reached an age where the demands of her own structural 
growth are but moderate it follows that bone-making and 
muscle-building foods which ought to go into pig manu- 
facture must be diverted, at least in some measure, to 
the sow. The constitution and size of her pigs will be 
inferior, in consequence, to what they might otherwise 
prove. This plan, if followed, must eventually give the 
owner an unsatisfactory herd, and in time he becomes 
convinced that the breed is wrong, and endeavors to re- 
gain lost ground by changing breeds, or by cross-breed- 
ing. Undesirable traits once established are difficult to 



IOS SWINE IN AMERICA 

eradicate, and it is far better to avoid them in the begin 
ning. For that reason it is sane procedure to retain the 
tried and true sow until she shows herself too clumsv 
and lubberly to make a good mother, or for some other 
decided reason should yield her place to a better animal. 

Progress in swine improvement, especially in the corn 
belt of the United States, has made it easy for the man 
of small means to buy good sows, even if he feels that 
he cannot afford pure-bred stock. Good blood is far 
more widely distributed than formerly, and the buyer 
can much more readily procure a high class of founda- 
tion stock than was the case some decades earlier. Where 
possible it is preferable to start with pure-breds, but 
when this is not feasible the purchaser should be alert 
to secure sows of such high quality as he may, guarding 
against defects in their offspring by the use of none but 
high class pure-bred boars. 

SELECTION 

Even though it may involve some inconvenience, it 
is by far the best plan to make a personal selection, and 
to do this at the farm of their owner. There they may 
be seen in their everyday life and form; opportunity 
is afforded to study their family characteristics and 
details of their feeding and management, which often 
may be wisely continued by the new owner. If the sows 
are purchased from a man who has a reputation for fair 
dealing and for maintaining a high standard of excel- 
lence among his stock, the beginner in swine husbandry 
should be able to gather from his experience much that 



THE SOW I SELECTION AND MANAGEMENT IOQ 

is of value. The chances are in favor of finding such a 
man not far from home. Buying unseen sows or other 
breeding stock by mail is, in nine cases out of ten, of 
doubtful advisability. 

A GOOD BROOD SOW 

A sow that is motherly, a generous milker, with a 
gentle, quiet disposition, and prolific in farrowing 
healthy, quick-growing pigs, is well selected, and a treas- 
ure which should not be discarded until her usefulness 
has been outlived. A good brood sow is a roomy animal, 
preferably with a long, deep body and well-developed pel- 
vic region. The head and throat should be smooth and 
trim and the forehead broad. The shoulders should be 
broad and smooth, and the heart girth large, as when 
this is lacking the vital organs will probably not have the 
strength they should and would possess with more room. 
Some authorities now question the old theory that the 
female parent influences the offspring's heart, lungs and 
other vital organs, while the sire dominates in the make- 
up of the frame and general external structure, but so 
far nothing conclusive has been offered to disprove this 
and it is worthy of acceptance until a better is given a 
positively proved position. The sow's legs should be 
fairly short and straight, noticeably strong and service- 
able, yet without coarseness of bone. 

Such desirable qualifications as deep sides, ribs well 
sprung out from a wide, well-fleshed, slightly arched back 
and well-finished rump and hams, must not be lost sight 
of. These characteristics, in whole or in part, along 



IIO SWINE IN AMERICA 

with the milk-giving qualities, are too often underesti- 
mated by the average breeder, who frequently pays too 
great attention instead to beauty, refinement and show 
appearance. A sow known to be a good suckler is of 
double worth, or better, as compared with a scant milker. 
Breeders have frequently noticed that a sow with poor 
milking qualities is liable to have small litters; on the 
other hand, one of large milking capacity is likely to 
have not only more pigs, but will do so much better by 
them that they develop faster and more profitably than 
those of smaller litters. 

Weak or sagging backs in either sows or boars are to 
be shunned. An observant writer has said : "A weak 
or sagged-backed hog means a poorly muscled hog (it is 
muscle that we want in a hog), and it often means a hog 
that has long pasterns, and is down on its legs — a hog 
that can't handle itself and that soon gets helpless and 
of little account. There are in general two types of the 
weak-backed hog: The one that is high on the shoulder 
and sags just back of it, and the one that is high on 
the hip and slopes down to the shoulder. The latter type 
is usually associated with short, steep hams, but the 
former is the more objectionable since it signifies the 
small heart girth and diminished chest capacity. Either 
is bad enough and results from the same cause, namely, 
poor muscles. The muscles running diagonally across 
the ribs and vertebra? sustain and strengthen the back, 
and where they are weak or lacking there can be no 
strength. 






THE SOW : SELECTION AND .MANAGEMENT I I I 

"The type of back to be sought is the one that is arched 
slightly in the middle, with a slight and gradual slope 
toward either extremity. Such a back means strength 
and power for the hog and money for the grower. 

"There is nothing more 'demoralizing' to a herd than 
to get some of these sagged-back animals into it, and the 
greatest care possible should be exercised to keep clear of 
them. No matter how broad a boar may be or how de- 
sirable in other respects, he should be strictly avoided if 
he has a poor back, and the same is true of the brood 
sow." 

THE FOUNDATION HERD 

Sows selected for a foundation herd should be of uni- 
form type; not uniform simply by accident, but because 
uniformity of a good kind is a characteristic of the stock 
from which they are selected. They should be about 
the same age, and in pig. Purchase of sows already in 
pig will save to beginners a considerable outlay at the 
start. The owner should know the breeding qualities of 
his sows before selecting a boar, and the most direct 
method of obtaining this knowledge is by previously 
having litters from them. 

Selection should be with a view to making the sows' 
feeding and care as uniform as possible, and to avoid- 
ing litters of pigs of mixed or varying types. These 
results may best be secured with sows alike in type, and 
of the same age, which should be in the neighborhood 
of a year when selected. If for the foundation of a 
herd of pure-breds they should come from some well- 
rated, established breeder. Uniform quality should 



112 SWINE IN AMERICA 

dominate in the selection, and in the herd from which 
the selection is made, and limited resources should 
never influence the buyer to neglect quality in favor of 
numbers. A large number is not necessary. Four or 
iive sows should be ample for starting an ordinary herd; 
but it is far better to begin with three good ones, or 
even one, than with six such as will place the breeder 
on a low level in his business. Quality must be insisted 
upon and adhered to from the outset, but it does not 
mean over-refinement. A sow that is delicate or too 
finely bred will transmit delicate constitutions to her 
offspring, which, too, will probably be few in numbers. 
Better results will accrue from selecting pure-bred 
sows from a single herd, because uniformity in type and 
handling methods are thereby more likely to be attain- 
able. Hereditary influences and breeding standards will 
prove more satisfactory if the buyer has been judicious 
in selecting from a herd and a breeder with known high 
standards. The grandsires and granddams should be 
looked up, as well as the sires and dams, and their con- 
formation and breeding performances studied. 

BEGIN WITH A SMALL NUMBER 

Whether he purchases grades or pure-breds the novice 
will make the best beginning with no more than four or 
fwe sows. If in pig they will soon give him the prac- 
tical experience out of which he will absorb more 
knowledge than he can possibly obtain by any other 
means. While he ought to invest in the best quality 
liis money will buy, he should not so strain his resources 



THE SOW : SELECTION AND MANAGEMENT 1 1 3 

that in case unforeseen misfortune overtakes him he will 
be left unable to gird up and make another trial. 

Serenity, undisturbed by fretful restlessness, should be 
characteristic in a good sow. Any breeder of expe- 
rience will know just what is meant when it is said that 
a sow is "motherly," but the exact meaning is difficult 
to set down in words. This maternal manifestation has 
an important bearing on success with a litter, and the 
dam's promise in this regard should have weight in the 
purchase. In making a selection the teats should be 
examined to discover that there are a dozen, well formed, 
not too small or obscure, and giving indications of sup- 
plying abundant milk. 

Where it is found desirable to select sows from dif- 
ferent herds greater care is essential to prevent intro- 
duction of disease than would be necessary if they came 
from a single farm known to be free from disease. In 
the former case, or if they have been shipped a con- 
siderable distance, it is advisable to keep them isolated 
from each other, if possible, for a period of three or 
fonr weeks, or until there is no danger of the introduc- 
tion of disease by any sow. In any event it is well to 
have them dipped or sprayed upon their arrival. Prac- 
tical suggestions regarding quarantining and dipping 
may be found in a succeeding chapter relating to that 
subject. If facilities at hand do not permit using all 
necessary precautions the buyer will find it safer to make 
his selection from a nearby herd, where lie may be 
certain that his sows are purchased free from both 
disease and vermin. 



114 SWINE IN AMERICA 

So far as may be feasible, the methods of feeding to 
which the sows have been accustomed should be fol- 
lowed after their arrival at the buyer's home. Sudden 
changes of feeds should be avoided, and for a few days 
the diet should be light. 

In selecting gilts from the home herd for breeding 
consideration should be given to the fact that the most 
promising pigs at six or eight weeks may fall far short 
of being so promising at six or eight months; therefore 
it is better to defer selection until they have attained 
considerable growth. Then they will exhibit promi- 
nently and in a permanent way the possession or lack of 
certain characteristics which a good brood sow should 
have, and the breeder will be enabled to form a judg- 
ment more nearly correct as to what they will be at 
maturity. 

PROPER TIME TO BREED 

Well-kept sows will, at times, come in heat when 
not more than three months old ; but in all such cases 
care should be exercised that they are kept out of reach 
of any boar pigs. Eight months old is as young as it is 
judicious or proper to breed a sow, and ten months or 
more is preferable. If nature is called upon to perfect 
the undeveloped mother and to promote the growth of 
the young at the same time the inevitable result is that 
both are losers. The mother herself will never be able 
to recover from an undue and improper division and 
deficit in nature's work. This warning has already been 
given in this chapter, but the truth is of enough 






THE SOW : SELECTION AND MANAGEMENT I I 5 

importance to justify repetition. Pigs from large, old 
sows will be more in number and frequently double the 
size at a month old of those from the young sows, and 
with equal care they will usually be much the heavier 
when nine or twelve months old. 

The Wisconsin station has made interesting tests to 
prove relative sizes and weights in litters from young 
and old sows, with astonishing results. In these tests 
sows weighing an average of 482 pounds' at farrowing 
time produced an average of 9.2 pigs per litter, with a 
weight per litter of 27 pounds. From sows weighing 
307 pounds the average number in the litter was 6.7 
pigs, and the weight of the litter was 16 pounds. Where 
the average weight per sow was 238 pounds the average 
number in a litter was 5.5 pigs and the average weight 
of a litter 14 pounds. Sows between the ages of four 
and live years averaged nine pigs to a litter and a weight 
per litter of 26 pounds; sows between two and three 
years old had an average litter of 7.5 pigs, and a litter 
averaged 19.7 pounds in weight, and sows a year old 
produced litters of 7.8 pigs, with an average weight of 
14.2 pounds per litter. The station report on the tests 
says : "It is very evident that the older and larger 
sows are much better mothers than the younger and 
smaller ones, and that the common practice of many 
farmers in disposing of their old brood sows each year 
and reserving young and immature animals for breed- 
ing purposes is not to be commended. Our farrowing 
records for several years, where each litter was weighed 
at birth, as well as the practices of leading breeders, bear 



Il6 SWINE IN AMERICA 

out the statement that sows from three to five and even 
six years of age are much more profitable and satisfac- 
tory as breeders than sows one and two years old." 

The profitable period for retaining a good brood sow 
in the herd will depend almost entirely upon the sow 
herself. She deserves her place as long as she can hold 
it. It will not profit the breeder to allot her for fattening 
so long as she evinces a motherly, kindly disposition and 
shows ability to produce and suckle generously litters 
of six or more healthy pigs. Some will be valuable 
after five years of maternity, while others will become 
clumsy and careless or vicious before that time. The 
experienced breeder holds fast to his best and tried ani- 
mals, and it is through them that he makes and maintains 
the reputation of his herd and himself. 

CONDITION AT BREEDING 

Usually, when not with pig or suckling, a sow will be 
in heat about three days out of 21, or once in three weeks. 
When she is to be bred she should be free from fever, 
and her system cooled and cleansed by a variety of non- 
heat-producing foods and loosening slops. A healthy 
sow is the better able to produce a healthy litter. From 
the time she is chosen as a breeder methods of feeding 
can be made to have a large influence in attaining 
desired results. During the growing period and in preg- 
nancy her needs are for nitrogenous or protein-furnish- 
ing rations, such as barley, oats, bran, and the leguminous 
feeds— clover, alfalfa, beans and peas. Field roots, 
such as sugar-beets, rutabagas, mangels and artichokes, 




r. 



3 

a 

H 

I 

QQ 

'J 

o 
w 

5 



THE SOW I SELECTION AND MANAGEMENT 1 17 

also plenty of pumpkins, are valuable adjuncts. Fre- 
quently it is convenient and inexpensive to feed raw 
potatoes, and they have a value in affording succulence 
and variety, but as a principal diet for any considerable 
length of time they are not at all to be recommended. 
The especial need is material for bone and muscle-form- 
ing. Fat for the pigs is not needed until a later time. 
Very much corn is not desirable feed for any breeding 
animal. Many valuable sows have been destroyed for 
breeding purposes by overfeeding on corn or corn meal. 

In the corn belt, however, most farmers find their 
abundant and inexpensive corn a feed which cannot be 
avoided or ignored, nor should it be; but while its use 
need not by any means be omitted, it should be but 
moderate, and as a part of a reasonably balanced ration. 
Sows kept for breeding should not herd with fattening 
hogs kept on corn, but be in pasture and given a supply 
of slop, such as equal parts of shorts, corn meal and 
wheat bran. Feeds which furnish considerable bulk are 
preferable, and those tending to prevent constipation 
are important. 

At the time of service the sow should be in what may 
best be described as "good" condition, not too fat or 
in exhibition form, nor, on the other hand, too thin. She 
ought to be hearty in every way and a greedy feeder; 
she is then entering upon the most important work of 
her career, and ought to be "fit." As winter approaches 
the sows should have shelter adequate for any protection 
that the climate may make necessary. Whether this 
shelter be of straw and poles or of tight roofing it 



1 [8 SWINE IN AMERICA 

should protect against a clamp bed. Dry quarters and 
bedding are always the right of the mother sow, and 
will save many pigs. 

INFLUENCE OF DAM ON LITTER 

Probably a majority do not realize as fully as they 
need to what great influence the feed of the dam may 
exert upon the offspring; that some kinds are required 
to make bone and that other kinds go chiefly to the mak- 
ing of fat. If the bone- forming feeds alone are given 
to the mother there will be a normal and sometimes 
an abnormal development of frame, but the offspring 
will be in poor flesh when dropped. If only fat-forming 
feeds are given, the offspring will be fat and glossy, 
but deficient in bone structure. If the breeder feeds his 
sows on corn and water, they will probably have a small 
number of pigs, which may be fleshy but lacking in size, 
and they will rarely be matured at any great profit. If 
he uses liberally feed containing protein and phosphorus, 
he will obtain pigs with proper frames to begin with, 
and that will yield a profit when ready for the 
market. The fact that a pig at birth is large and lean 
and seems loosely hinged together is no proof that it will 
not in good time be growthy and abundantly plump. 

Bearing on this, an Iowa farmer of several years' 
experience reports a test he made of mixed feeds com- 
pared with corn alone, which was very interesting in its 
outcome, and in substance was as follows: For three 
months prior to farrowing he kept all the sows on the 
same rations. One pen received nothing but corn and 



THE SOW : SELECTION AND MANAGEM ENT I 19 

water, another received a ration of 2 parts corn, 1 
part wheat bran and 2 parts chopped clover hay. 
These parts were determined by measure and the clover 
was steeped in a little water for half an hour before 
being mixed with the shelled corn and bran. At far- 
rowing time each sow which had been fed the corn 
dropped five pigs, three of which were fat and chubby 
and the other two runts. The other sows averaged eight 
pigs each and there were only two runts in a herd of 28. 
The 26 were as nearly perfect specimens of their breeds 
as he ever saw, and were sold at eight months, averag- 
ing 278 pounds each. The price for which they were 
sold represented a profit of nearly 47 per cent after 
counting in a reasonable amount for labor and a good 
price for all feed given them. The six pigs from the 
corn-fed sows were sold at the same age, averaging 185 
pounds each, and the farmer believes he lost money on 
them. All the pigs were fed and reared on practically 
the same rations. 

BROOD SOWS AFTER CATTLE 

Many farmers are so situated that they find it most 
convenient to allow their brood sows to run in corrals 
with their fattening cattle, although this has numerous 
disadvantages. The cattle are likely to horn, trample, 
or otherwise injure the sows. When allowed with the 
cattle they should be given separate quarters at night, 
outside the feed-lot, and not restricted to che food they 
will gather up after the cattle. Before turning out with 
the cattle in the morning it is advisable to give them a 



I JO SWINE IN AMERICA 

ration of muscle-making and more laxative food; not 
too much, as it will tend to make them lazier, with a 
greater probability of their getting in the way of the 
cattle and also of neglecting the exercise which is one 
of the benefits from allowing sows to work over the 
droppings of cattle fed on grain. 

Whether or not a sow is safely in pig will be known 
usually about 20 or 21 days after coupling. A careful 
record should be kept of the date of coupling, so that 
the probable time of farrowing may be known. The 
period of gestation is about 112 days from the date of 
service. Young sows are likely to carry their first litters 
for a slightly shorter period, not infrequently farrowing 
in 106 or 108 days, while old sows may take a longer 
time, extending to possibly 115 days. Instances are 
exceptional when any variation either way exceeds a 
week from the 112th day. The table on page 140, 
taking the left-hand date for the time of coupling, will 
show by the right-hand date in the same column the time 
when farrowing is likely to occur. 

TIME FOR FARROWING 

Throughout most of the corn belt of the United States 
the main crop of pigs should come in the warm days of 
April, and that this may be so, sows should he bred 
as near the middle of December as possible. Where the 
breeder's facilities will afford the requisite care and 
warmth and the latitude is not too far north it may lie 
safe to have the pigs come in March. As a general rule 
in the northern states a sow should not have pigs in 



THE SOW : SELECTION AND MANAGEMENT 



121 



the spring before late March, nor later in the fall than 
October. A sow that has been wintered properly, and 
has had the right kind of feed, with plenty of exercise 
and sunshine, should do well with a March litter and 
be prepared to farrow a good litter again in the autumn. 
Whether or not this is advisable, however, will depend, 
in great part, on how well the owner is situated and how 
well inclined to give the needed care to the sow and her 
pigs. Both early spring litters and those of the early 
fall will do the best and pay the best on an average. 
Care of the pigs in the mild season is not so difficult. 



Table Showing Period of Gestation. 









> ^ 
■d EL 


03 C 


Sept 
June . . 


Oct... . 
July 


> Z 
e o 
to < 


■8 » 


O *— ' 


o ft 




1..22 


1.23 


1.20 


1..21 


1.20 


1..20 


1..20 


1..20 


1..21 


1..20 


1.20 


1..22 


2 .23 


2. .24 


2.21 


2. .22 


2. .21 


2. .21 


2. .21 


2. .21 


2. .22 


2.21 


2. .21 


2. .23 


3. .24 


3. .25 


3. .22 


3. .23 


3. .22 


3. .22 


3. .22 


3. .22 


3. .23 


3. .22 


3. .22 


3 .24 


4..25 


4.26 


4.. 23 


4.. 24 


4. 23 


4.. 23 


4. 23 


4.. 23 


4.. 24 


4. .23 


4.. 23 


4.. 25 


5. .26 


S..27 


5. .24 


5. .25 


5. .24 


5. .24 


5. .24 


5. .24 


5. 25 


5. .24 


5. .24 


5. .26 


6. .27 


6.. 28 


6.. 25 


6. .26 


6.25 


6. .25 


6. .25 


6. .25 


6. 26 


6.. 25 


6. .25 


6.27 


7. .28 


7. .29 


7 .26 


7. .27 


7.26 


7. .26 


7. .26 


7. .26 


7. .27 


7. .26 


7. .26 


7. .28 


8. .29 


8.30 


8. .27 


8. .28 


8. .27 


8. .27 


8. .27 


8. .27 


8. .28 


8. 27 


8. .27 


8. .29 


9. .30 


9. .31 


9. .28 


9. .29 


9. .28 


9. .28 


9. .28 


9. .28 


9. .29 


9. .28 


9. .28 


9.30 


Mav 


June 


10.29 


10. 30 


10.29 


10. 29 


10.. 29 


10.29 


10.. 30 


10.. 29 


Mar. 


10.. 31 


10.. 1 


10.. 1 


11. .30 


11. .31 


11. .30 


11 30 


11. .30 


11. .30 


11. .31 


11. .30 


10.. 1 


Apr. 


11.. 2 


11.. 2 


July Auk. 


12. .31 


Oct. 


12. .31 


Dec. 


Jan. 


12. .31 


11.. 2 


11.. 1 


12.. 3 


12.. 3 


12.. 1 


12.. 1 


Sept 


12. 1 


Nov. 


12.. 1 


12.. 1 


Feb. 


12.. 3 


12.. 2 


13.. 4 


13.. 4 


13.. 2 


13.. 2 


13.. 1 


13.. 2 


13.. 1 


13.. 2 


13.. 2 


13.. 1 


13.. 4 


13.. 3 


14.. 5 


14.. 5 


14.. 3 


14.. 3 


14.. 2 


14.. 3 


14.. 2 


14.. 3 


14.. 3 


14.. 2 


14.. 5 


14.. 4 


15.. 6 


15.. 6 


15.. 4 


15.. 4 


15.. 3 


15.. 4 


15.. 3 


15.. 4 


15.. 4 


15.. 3 


15.. 6 


15.. 5 


16.. 7 


16.. 7 


16.. 5 


16.. 5 


16.. 4 


16.. 5 


16.. 4 


16.. 5 


16.. 5 


16.. 4 


16.. 7 


16.. 6 


17.. 8 


17.. 8 


17.. 6 


17.. 6 


17.. 5 


17.. 6 


17.. 5 


17.. 6 


17.. 6 


17.. 5 


17.. 8 


17.. 7 


18.. 9 


18.. 9 


18.. 7 


18.. 7 


18.. 6 


18.. 7 


18.. 6 


18.. 7 


18.. 7 


18.. 6 


18.. 9 


18.. 8 


19. .10 


19. .10 


19.. 8 


19.. 8 


19.. 7 


19.. 8 


19.. 7 


19.. 8 


19.. 8 


19. 7 


19 .10 


19.. 9 


20.. 11 


20.. 11 


20.. 9 


20.. 9 


20.. 8 


20.. 9 


20.. 8 


20.. 9 


20.. 9 


20.. 8 


20. 11 


20.. 10 


21. .12 


21. .12 


21. .10 


21. .10 


21.. 9 


21. .10 


21.. 9 


21. .10 


21.10 


21.. 9 


21. .12 


21. .11 


22. .13 


22.. 13 


22. .11 


22. .11 


22. 10 


22.11 


22.. 10 


22. .11 


22. .11 


22.. 10 


22.. 13 


22. .12 


23 ..14 


23.. 14 


23.. 12 


23. .12 


23.11 


23.12 


2.3. .11 


23.. 12 


23. 12 


23. .11 


23 14 


23.. 13 


24.15 


24.. 15 


24.. 13 


24.. 13 


24.. 12 


24.13 


24.. 12 


24.13 


24. 13 


24.. 12 


24. .15 


24.. 14 


25.16 


25. .16 25. .14 


25.. 14 


25.. 13 


25.. 14 


25. 13 


25.. 14 25. .14 


25.. 13 


25.. 16 


25.. 15 


26. .17 


26.. 17 26 .15 


26. .15 


26.. 14 


26.15 


26.. 14 


2o 15 26.. 15 


26.. 14 


26. .17 


26.. 16 


27. .18 


27. .18 127. .16 


27.. 16 


27. .15 


27.. 16 


27.15 


27.16 


27.. 16 


27. .15 


27.. 18 


27. .17 


28.. 19 


28. 19 128.17 


28. .17 


28. .16 


28. .17 


28. 16 


28. .17 


28. .17 


28. 16 


28.. 19 


28. .IS 


29. .20 


29. .20 29.. 18 


29.. 18 


29. .17 


29.. 18 


29. .17 


29.. 18 


29.. 18 


29. .17 


29. .20 


29.. 19 


30. 21 


;30..19 


30.. 19 


30.. 18 


30.19 


30. 18 


30. 19 


30.. 19 


30. 18 


30.. 21 


30.. 20 


31. .22 


31. .20 




31. .19 




31. .19 


31. .20 




31.. 19 




31. .21 






122 SWINE IN AMERICA 

and they are then putting on their most inexpensive 
growth at a time and age, too, when they are least 
subject to ailments and accidents. The chances for 
profitably rearing two crops of pigs from a sow annually 
are undoubtedly far better in regions of mild climate and 
short winters than where the winters are long and 
rigorous. 

CARE IN WINTER 

In the winter when pasture is not available the brood 
sows will call for greatest attention, and substitutes for 
green feed will be important. Roots, cabbage, silage, 
pumpkins, sorghum, and clover or alfalfa hay come 
within this classification. Roots offer considerable suc- 
culence, so much so that their laxative effect must not 
be allowed to bring about undue action of the bowels. 
Roots may be given without cutting, or they may be 
chopped and mixed with the grain ration. In the 
vicinity of a beet-sugar factory beet pulp may usually 
be obtained at a small cost. Bulk may also be sup- 
plied with clover or alfalfa hay, sheaf oats, sorghum 
cane or similar ration. A correspondent of the Prairie 
Fanner reports the profitable use of steamed hay, cut 
to one-half or three- fourths of an inch long and mixed 
with ground feed. He gives the following: "Take 
early cut, carefully cured hay — any kind will do, but al- 
falfa or clover is best — cut it up one-half or three-fourths 
of an inch in length, put it in a barrel, box, or something 
you can cover up, mix with it any kind of ground feed 
— bran, middlings, ground oats, or rye. Vary the 



THE SOW : SELECTION AND MANAGEMENT 12^ 

quantity of grain as you see is needful to keep the stock 
thriving". Steam the whole, if you have the apparatus, 
until it is soft; but if you have no steaming fixtures and 
are on good terms with your wife, as you ought to be, 
she will let you boil water on the kitchen stove. Pour 
enough boiling water on the cut hay and grain to 
thoroughly wet it. Cover and let it stand from morn- 
ing to nighty and it will be ready for use. I would have 
the sows get a large part of their nutriment out of the 
hay, just as I would out of grass if they were on pasture 
in the summer." 

Plenty of exercise is important for the pregnant sow; 
it should be insisted upon, and provided in the way the 
breeder finds best adapted to his situation. A large 
pasture is not always available, but the breeder may 
secure results by arranging the house at one end of the 
hog lot and the feeding floor at the other end, or by 
giving the sows water in such a way that to procure it 
they will be compelled to walk some distance a number 
of times each day. 

THE SOW'S HOUSING 

The results which may be achieved through the brood 
sows certainly entitle them to as good sleeping quarters 
as are given the horses or cows. These quarters should 
be warm, comfortable, ventilated, protected from damp- 
ness, and so arranged that they may have plenty of sun- 
light, the best of disinfectants. It need not be expensive 
to furnish these. A floor other than earth is not a 
necessity where the earth can be kept dry and hard and 



j_>4 SWINE IN AMERICA 

without the formation of a dust bed or trough. If the 
floor and bedding- are dank and the place gloomy the 
pigs will suffer. Cold drafts from above, below or 
round about, and dampness, bring with them various 
and fatal afflictions which should be guarded against. 
The bedding should be changed at least once a week, 
and oftener when damp or soiled. For the farrowing 
pen cement and stone floors have their advocates, and 
such floors have the advantage of greater permanency, 
but earth or wood can be made satisfactory. 

As a rule the brood sow should be separated from 
other hogs two weeks or ten days before the time of 
farrowing, and placed in a sheltered, sunny pen or other 
separate inclosure. She will then need less exercise, but 
should have the best possible attention as to feeding. A 
slightly less amount of feed will be needed, especially 
for a few days before farrowing, when the breeder's 
effort should be to aid the sow in maintaining the best 
possible condition of health, and in accomplishing this 
he should be careful not to go too far either one way 
or the other. It is not difficult to see how he might 
become too careless or negligent, but at the same time 
it should be remembered that he may show himself so 
over-solicitous and interfere so much as to do harm. 
The state of the weather and the time of the year will 
have considerable to do with the need for his services 
at farrowing, and the temperament of the sow should 
as well be taken into consideration. She should have 
become accustomed beforehand to regard the man who 
comes about the lot or pen as her friend, but even then 



THE SOW I SELECTION AND MANAGEMENT L2j 

some sows will show plainly that they wish to he left 
alone, as is natural, and generally is best, if the weather 
is not severe and the presence of an attendant is not 
necessary to take care that by neglect the pigs do not 
become chilled or perish of cold. 

If the sow is of the ill-natured kind that positively 
resents the presence of a herdsman she should be bred 
so she can deliver her pigs in weather that will permit 
her to be isolated or to make her nest in the orchard or 
woods. In an extreme case of this sort such an animal 
should be early slated for the fattening pen. A young 
sow bringing her first litter will probably evince more 
nervousness than an older animal. If she has been 
petted or kindly treated she will allow an attendant 
to remove the pigs from the nest as fast as they appear, 
thereby saving some that might otherwise be crushed 
or trampled to death. 

The sow's bedding should not be great in quantity; 
enough only to insure a clean and dry nest. In moderate 
weather, if in a house with a plank flooring, little bed- 
ding will be needed, but in cold weather, where the shelter 
does not thoroughly protect, more will, of course, be 
necessary. Care should be taken, however, to make the 
place of farrowing so comfortable and sheltered that a 
great nest will not be necessary to prevent the pigs from 
being chilled. If the nest is so situated that the sun can 
warm it during a portion of the day it is very comforting 
and helpful. Many fine pigs, sometimes whole litters, 
have been lost by permitting a nest too deep, forming a 
sort of pit in which the pigs gravitated, to be smothered 



120 SWINE IN AMERICA 

or crushed. Straw, chaff, hay, shavings and leaves are 
usable for nests. Long hay or straw, such as rye straw, 
for example, while under most circumstances better than 
none, are far from being the best bedding for a farrow- 
ing sow on account of the little pigs' liability to become 
entangled or lost in it. As a matter of fact, nobody has 
yet invented or knows of a better bedding material than 
the leaves and grass which a sow will collect and make a 
nest of if allowed the run of a woods pasture at farrow- 
ing time. 

Little pigs may also be kept from danger of crushing 
by the mother with a fender made of a scantling, rail or 
pole securely fastened, say eight inches from the wall, 
and the same distance from the floor. The pigs will 
quickly learn the protection afforded by this device when 
the sow lies down. Some breeders advocate a farrow- 
ing pen not large enough for the sow to turn around in, 
and with walls open eight inches from the floor so 
the pigs may run in and out. A pen of this sort may 
be made by confining the sow at one end of her regular 
pen with boards so nailed that she will be unable to turn 
around. 

BIRTH OF THE PIGS 

Where parturition is prolonged or difficult the herds- 
man's assistance may be needed, and he should aim to 
be within call. A distended udder, enlarged vulva and 
relaxation of muscles on each side of the tail may be 
taken as indications of the nearness of parturition. 
When the udder becomes heated and milk may be drawn 
from the teats the pigs may be expected within 12 hours, 



THE SOW : SELECTION AND MANAGEMENT I27 

except in the case of a sow's first litter. For several 
hours before farrowing the sow will be restless and dis- 
play much industry in gathering straw or other material 
and making it into a nest, in which finally she will as 
nearly as possible bury herself. 

In warm weather the pigs will of their own accord 
usually find their way at once to the teats and begin 
nursing, but when the weather is extremely cold and raw 
the pigs may lose their way, go in the wrong direction, 
become entangled and benumbed, fail to find their proper 
place and teats, and perish. The pig that is safely born, 
and within three minutes gets a firm hold of a teat full 
of milk, as was intended, has his chances for a career 
of usefulness greatly enhanced. If a warmed house is 
not used it will be well to have a basket or barrel, in the 
bottom of which are heated bricks, these being covered 
with straw, while a sack or blanket is thrown over the 
top to prevent loss of heat. As the pigs come they may 
be wiped dry and placed in the basket or barrel for the 
time being, and they will be dry and warm when given 
the teats. If the weather is not extremely frosty a 
blanket thrown over the sow until she is through farrow- 
ing may suffice. 

Of all the means of successfully warming a chilled pig 
and restoring his interest in things earthly, probably 
there is nothing better than a pail or other vessel of 
water heated to about 95 to 98 degrees F., in which his 
body and limbs can be submerged for 10 to 20 minutes. 
In many instances it will well-nigh revive the dead. If 
after this hot bath Mr. Pig is dried and placed where he 



I 28 SWINE IN AMERICA 

can suck a well-Riled teat his outlook on the future will 
be much improved. 

"If by any means the little pigs get a chill, and turn 
cold, limp and damp," says Sanders Spencer, an English 
authority, "a teaspoonful of gin will help to revive them, 
and a suck at the teat will complete the cure if the 
weather is not very severe. An attendant who has had 
much experience will at once know when this is the 
case by the peculiar cry which a chilled pig invariably 
gives in the stage before it becomes quite helpless and 
semi-unconscious. Should the act of parturition be a 
very protracted one, it is advisable, in very cold weather 
especially, to place those pigs which are dry to the teat, 
lest the long-continued deprivation of their natural food 
should result in their becoming chilled and troublesome 
to get to suck. At times the pigs will appear to have but 
little life in them when they are a long time coming into 
the world ; the attendant should then open the pig's 
mouth and blow lustily down its throat, so that the lungs 
become expanded, when the youthful grunter will quickly 
recover." 

When sows are nervous and unquiet in farrowing it 
will be necessary to keep the pigs away from the teats 
until farrowing is over, unless, as stated, the weather is 
severe and the labor unduly prolonged. Waiting for a 
little time will not cause the pigs to suffer, provided 
they are dry and warm. When" given the teats the 
breeder should see that each pig receives its fair chance. 
If a stronger pig makes a choice of a teat at which one 
less vigorous is obtaining milk the latter should be given 
an unused teat, as the pigs will generally continue to use 



THE SOW : SELECTION AND MANAGEMENT 1 2i) 

the teats they at first select. The stronger pigs are also 
given to taking extra pulls at the teats belonging to their 
less robust mates when chance offers. It is sometimes 
difficult to manage at all satisfactorily the pasturing of 
several sows with pigs in the same field, on account of 
the larger pigs robbing the smaller ones of other sows 
of their share of milk, causing them to become stunted 
and uneven in size. When too much of this is found 
going on the only remedy is to separate them. 

ASSISTANCE AT FARROWING 

The breeder's judgment will generally tell him what 
assistance the sow may require, if any, in farrowing. 
If a crosswise presentation occurs, the pig should be 
pressed carefully into the womb, and where the sow has 
difficulty in bringing the pig forward it may be necessary 
to assist her. This may be done With the hands or by 
use of the pig- forceps sold on. the market. 

"Have your pigs come about the same time," says John 
Cownie, the prominent and successful Iowa breeder, 
"within a week or two, so that they will all be of one age 
and one size. That is one great secret of successful 
swine raising. It will save a great deal of difficulty at 
farrowing. I used to have much trouble at farrowing 
time by losing sows. One year I lost 15 that could not 
give birth to their pigs. At that time I didn't know what 
was the matter. Now I know all about it. That may be 
saying a great deal. But I never lose a sow now in far- 
rowing — not one. There is no grain more fat-producing 
than corn. We fed our young hogs altogether too much 



I30 SWINE IN AMERICA 

corn. Those sows died because they had been fed too 
much corn, and their pigs were too large and fat, and the 
sows could not give birth to them. I had fed corn, as 
my neighbors had done; now I feed scarcely an ear to 
my brood sows. They are not fed a great deal, and there 
is no trouble in farrowing; I haven't lost a sow for a 
dozen years. I feed so as to make bone and muscle. I 
am not feeding the sow then; I am feeding the embryo 
pig, and what I want in that pig is bone and muscle." 

SOWS EATING THEIR PIGS 

A disposition by the sow to eat her pigs may be the 
result of a number of causes, and not all of them natu- 
rally the fault of the sow. The erroneous opinion some- 
times prevails that the sow is the only farm animal which 
molests her young at time of parturition, yet mares have 
been known to kick and bite their foals, cows to gore 
their calves, and sheep to butt their lambs to death. With 
the sow the desire to eat the pigs may arise from the 
failure to promptly remove the afterbirth. When this 
is passed it should be immediately removed and buried 
or burned. If left where the sow can scent it she is 
more than likely, especially if a young sow, to devour it, 
and, as the scent of the newly born pigs is similar some 
of them may also be eaten. If the sow has not been 
properly fed during pregnancy or has lacked exercise 
her labor will be more difficult, especially if she is con- 
stipated, and in her distress she may attack her young. 
If she has lacked growth-producing and bone-making 
feed a taste for blood may seem to possess her. A sow 






THE SOW : SELECTION AND MANAGEM KM' 1 3 I 

that has had the run of a good clover held or other pas- 
ture in summer, or is given salt, charcoal, or other simi- 
lar condiments in winter, where a nutritious, succulent 
diet is not available, is less liable to evince a cannibalistic 
tendency. It is said that the wild sow, so far as is 
known, never devours her young. 

When rational preventive measures have not been used 
and the sow begins to attack her pigs the following- 
treatment, proposed in the National Stockman, may be 
given : "Give her pork enough to satisfy her, and salt 
pork is better than fresh, as it will take less. The salt is 
laxative and will cause her to drink more water, which 
will tend to allay the fever. Cut thin slices of pork and 
begin feeding them to her one at a time until she will 
eat no more, and she will let the pigs alone afterward." 

FEEDING AFTER FARROWING 

If a sow has been fed so that she will have enough 
milk for her pigs they are in less danger of being injured 
or killed, as they will satisfy themselves and lie down 
quietly together to sleep, while the pigs of a sow scant 
of milk will be hungry and constantly working at her, 
and by their restlessness subjecting themselves to danger 
in various ways. A sow properly fed at time of pigging 
will likewise usually lie far more quietly and will en- 
danger her pigs less by frequent getting up and down. 
This, again, does not mean hearty feeding. Usually 
for the first 24 hours after farrowing no feed should be 
given, nor, as a rule, is it wanted, but the sow should 
be provided with lukewarm (never very cold) water. 



I3 2 SWINE IN AMERICA 

Her feverish condition will cause thirst, notwithstanding 
the fact that she may have an abundance of sloppy food, 
which will not prevent her needing- water. In case the 
sow shows signs of wanting to eat in the first 24 hours 
after farrowing she may be given a little thin slop or 
gruel of shorts and bran or of oatmeal, warmed, if in 
cold weather. The feed for the following four or hve 
days should be light, mainly a thin slop— oats, shorts, 
bran, but no corn. Some clover or alfalfa hay at this 
time may be relished. The sow should be gradually 
brought to full feed, taking a week to ten days to ac- 
complish this. The third day after farrowing is fre- 
quently a critical period, and until that time is past her 
appetite should be watched carefully, and she should be 
supplied with but a light ration. The water supply in 
reach should not be stinted. 

For the first weeks of a pig's life the mother's milk 
is its drink as well as food, and, therefore, in caring for 
suckling sows it should be the aim to so feed them that 
milk of only medium richness will be furnished instead 
of a limited supply of that which is extremely rich, the 
latter being less healthful and more liable to cause 
thumps, scours and unsatisfactory growth. It is only 
a law of nature that pigs should make more economical 
gains through the milk of the dams than in any other 
way, and it is also true that the sow will furnish nourish- 
ment for her young at less cost for the raw material than 
any other animal on the farm. A sow's milk is rich in 
solid matter, which amounts to 17 to 20 per cent. On a 
comparative basis of 1,000 pounds live weight a cow 



THE SOW : SELECTION AND MANAGEMENT 



133 



giving 3 gallons of milk a day will give in the milk I 
pound of fat and .yj pound of protein daily, while a 
sow's milk will yield 1.26 pounds of fat and 1.1 pounds 
of protein a day on an average. In composition sow's 
milk in comparison with cow's milk is very high in total 
fats as well as solids. Analyses made by Professor 
F. W. Woll at the Wisconsin experiment station give the 
following comparison between sow's milk and cow's 
milk : 





Total 
solids 


Fat 


Casein 

and 

albumen 


Milk 
sugar 


Ash 


Specific ' 
gravity 


Sow's milk 


19.49 
13.47 


6.89 
4. 14 


6.06 
3.20 


5.64 
5.43 


.98 

.70 


1.0412 
1.0316 


Difference 


7.02 


2.75 


2.86 


.21 


.28 


.0096 



From observations by Professor Henry as to the yield 
and composition of sow's milk, it seems that in propor- 
tion to their weight sows yield as large a quantity of milk 
solids daily as a good cow. The average daily produc- 
tion of milk solids per sow appeared to be about 1 pound, 
or 4 pounds for four sows, the equivalent of the solids 
in over 30 pounds of cow's milk of average quality. It 
follows, therefore, that the demands upon the food for 
milk formation are proportionately as heavy with swine 
as with cows, and consequently the ration should be one 
that will stimulate and sustain abundant milk secretion. 
Such feeding is not only necessary, but economical, 
"for," says W. H. Jordan, in "Feeding of Farm Ani- 
mals," "independent experiments indicate that the food 



134 SWINE IN AMERICA 

cost of the growth of pigs before weaning is no greater 
than it is after weaning." 

The practical farm fact to be gained from the chem- 
ist's showing is that the sow needs food which will aid 
her in manufacturing nourishment for the pigs, made up 
in about the foregoing proportion and furnishing suf- 
ficient protein and enough, but not too much, fat. The 
nutritive ratio — that is, the ratio of digestible protein to 
digestible carbohydrates — should be preferably i 15 or 
t :6. In corn it is 1 :g./ ; in barley, 1 :y.g; in oats, 1 16.2; 
in clover and alfalfa it is practically the desired ratio. 

For making an ample supply of healthful milk, wheat 
bran, shorts and skim milk mixed are excellent, and no 
careful breeder anxious to do the best by his pigs should 
neglect to have in so far as he may a supply to use 
when his sows are suckling. Extremely favorable re- 
sults are secured by feeding chopped (coarsely ground) 
rye, with half its weight in wheat bran added, soaked 
from 24 to 36 hours, but not allowed to become more 
than slightly sour before feeding. This makes a most 
palatable, nutritious mess for the sow, and her pigs soon 
learn to eat greedily of it, to their great advantage. 

INJURIES TO THE SOW'S UDDER 

AYhen the sow carries her pigs longer than the usual 
period, or otherwise, their teeth sometimes attain an 
unusual development, and on account of their length and 
sharpness injure the sow's tender and swollen udder. 
In consequence the sow's suffering may cause her to 
withhold her milk, and she may be so disturbed as to in- 
jure her pigs. In cases of this kind the pig should be 






Ill K sow : SELECTION AND RIANAGEMENT 1 35 

taken under the arm and the mouth held open with one 
hand while the faulty teeth are broken off with small 
pincers. If the pig's objections disturb the sow it will 
be better to do the work out of her hearing. When this 
treatment is needed it should be promptly applied, as it 
may save the lives of the pigs and prevent inflammation 
of the sow's udder. 1 f the sow is ugly toward her pigs 
the chances are, unless she is constipated, that her bad 
temper is caused by the sharp teeth of the pigs. In case 
the udder becomes swollen and hard, water as hot as may 
be borne, in which a little salt has been dissolved, may be 
applied, and is excellent. Apply this until the udder is 
softened, and then rub with warmed lard and turpen- 
tine in equal parts. This treatment is also good for an 
enlarged teat. 

The condition of the weather will govern the length 
of time it will be necessary to keep the sow in close 
quarters, but she should not be denied access to the open 
air. Pigs should not be allowed out in a cold rain or 
where they will receive the shock of cold winds. Where 
they can do so without danger they should be out in the 
sun within 24 hours after birth, and after that the best 
practice is to let them run in and out at will. Neither 
the sow nor very young pigs should be permitted to run 
in pasture early in the morning if the grass is tall and 
wet with rain or heavy dew. 

CHOLERA AND BROOD SOWS 

Cholera will leave some brood sows that recover from 
its attack so that they arc thereafter apparently immune 



I36 SWINE IN AMERICA 

and as valuable for breeding as before. Others will re- 
cover from the disease, but never again be good breed- 
ers. This immunity after an attack of cholera is not 
transmitted to their progeny. James Riley, the veteran 
Indiana breeder, said, after a quarter-century of expe- 
rience with cholera: "I regard a sow that has had the 
disease and fully recovered, if it has left her a breeder, 
as very valuable. I think sows should lfot be bred for 
at least two months after fully recovering. At least 75 
per cent of our sows that had the disease proved to be 
breeders. It affected mature sows less than younger 
ones. Those that have great constitutional vigor are 
able to resist the disease. Sows that have resisted and 
recovered will frequently breed stronger and more vig- 
orous pigs." 

IMPORTANCE OF EXERCISE 

How to insure a sow's taking sufficient exercise when 
snow covers the ground is something of a problem, but 
inasmuch as she will be less inclined to take exercise at 
that time efforts should be the greater to see that she has 
enough to keep her in good condition. Left to herself 
the sow may do little more than go out to eat and drink, 
returning as quickly as possible to her quarters. James 
Atkinson, editor of the Homestead, and a practical swine 
grower, makes the following suggestion: "No greater 
mistake can be made than to let sows have their own 
way in this. It matters not what area they have access 
to they will seldom strike out and make paths in deep 
snow, and because of this we have found it an excellent 






THE SOW : SELECTION AND MANAGEMENT I37 

practice to run some kind of a sled around and through 
the pastures, making a clearly defined path. We know 
of one instance where a successful swine raiser runs the 
King road drag around a ten-acre field. Instead of feed- 
ing- the swine in one place he scatters dry shelled corn and 
oats around this pathway, with the result that the sows 
spend almost the entire day picking up this grain. Tt 
requires a little more feed to answer the purpose when 
so much exercise is taken, but the practice is one to be 
highly commended." 

Experienced farmers testify that no other work in 
winter will yield any better results than that which ought 
to be given to furnishing the brood sows exercise, pure 
air and proper feed and watering. While the sows are 
away from the quarters conditions will be bettered if the 
beds are stirred out and exposed to the fresh air. It is 
probably unnecessary to say that the remarks here or 
elsewhere in this volume about severe cold and snow are 
without application to those vast sections of the country 
where cold and snow are unknown. 

BARREN SOWS 

A sow is more liable to become barren because of over- 
feeding and by reason of being too fat than from any 
other cause; this may bring about a sluggish or non- 
acting condition of the ovaries or a closing of some of 
the passages by an excess of fat. In such a case the 
proper remedy is to get her back to suitable condition. 
For a sow that has failed to come to heat the Breeder's 
Gazette suggests the following treatment : "Give a full 



I38 SWINE IN AMERICA 

dose of epsom salts to move the bowels thoroughly. Af- 
terward g-ive all the exercise possible and cut down her 
feed so that she will lose flesh. For ten days give her 
live grains of iodide of potash night and morning. Stop 
for a few T days if it makes her sick. Repeat in two 
weeks. Keep the boar away from her for a month, then 
put him in a pen next to her where he can smell her 
through a slat partition. This may help to bring her 
around. If not, she should be fattened and killed, as 
barrenness is often incurable." 

ABORTION 

Abortion in sows is not as likely to be infectious as 
is the case in other animals. In a case of abortion, 
however, it is good policy to separate the sow from the 
rest of the herd, as it may be an infectious case, and, if 
so, the pen should be disinfected and the dead pigs and 
afterbirth well buried or burned. Infectious abortion 
does not usually show as marked symptoms as sporadic 
abortion, which is generally due to accident, although it 
may come about through bad feed, chilling or disease. 
Precaution should be taken with pregnant sows to pre- 
vent accidents, such as fright by dogs or other animals, 
kicks, blows, or any rough handling. 

The symptoms of abortion depend somewhat upon the 
stage of pregnancy. Sickness, shivering and indications 
of pain in the abdomen are some of the symptoms. The 
sow will usually make a nest, as for farrowing, if not 
too ill to do so. When abortion occurs the sow should 
be made as quiet and comfortable as possible. Dr. 
Robert A. Craig recommends giving tincture of opium 



THE SOW : SELECTION AND MANAGEMENT I39 

in teaspoon ful doses every few hours to quiet the sow. 
Abortion may be followed by a discharge from the af- 
fected parts. This should have local treatment, and the 
sow should be kept from the rest of the herd and not 
bred until any such discharge has been entirely cured. 

The sow, in most cases, will take the boar from the 
second to the fourth day after farrowing, but mating at 
this time would seem a violation of nature's law, for 
the mother should have her energies diverted to the pro- 
duction of milk for the nursing litter and for sustaining 
her own strength. She should not have service until 
the first heat after weaning her litter. Then she should 
be so fed and cared for as to gain something in flesh 
every day and yet not become loaded with internal fat 
from too much heating and concentrated food. If 
treated in a friendly way she will be friendly and well 
disposed, and ordinarily come as near paying richly for 
all she gets as any animal kept on the farm. 

In considering the efficiency of brood sows, Henry 
Wallace gives the following advice: "Go over those 
that have had pigs the present year and ask them the fol- 
lowing questions : How many pigs did you have this 
year? Were they even in size and form? Were they 
all good ones, or did you have two or three choice pigs 
and were the rest quite inferior? How did you take 
care of these pigs? Are you a good suckler? Are you 
good natured ? Are you a good mother, or are you one 
of the nervous, fidgety kind, always worrying and 
fretting for fear somebody will hurt you and your 
precious piglets? If the brood sow on being properly 
interrogated, cannot give satisfactory answers to these 



140 SWINE IX AMERICA 

questions it is not worth while to scold her or give her a 
moral lecture. Just turn her into the fattening pen; for 
there is where she belongs." 

DIFFICULT PARTURITION 

Of this Dr. W. B. Niles of the Iowa experiment 
station, says : "The first indications of farrowing should 
be noted and the sow then carefully watched (but with- 
out disturbing her), so that in case of difficult birth the 
necessary assistance can be given at once. Early help 
often saves the pigs, and almost always the sow. Delay 
is fatal to the mother and often to the litter as well. An 
examination usually shows the difficulty due to an un- 
usually large pig or to one in an abnormal position. 
Slight traction, while the obstructing pig is alive and 
labor pains strong, will generally insure delivery, but if 
assistance is delayed several hours the labor pains become 
weak, the pigs die and swell to two or three times the 
natural size, making delivery impossible. In some in- 
stances the services of a veterinarian can be secured, but 
often unless the owner is prepared to deal with these 
cases himself loss will ensue. Often the removal of the 
obstructing pig will be followed by the natural birth of 
the remainder, but at other times every pig must be 
sought and removed, frequently with the utmost diffi- 
culty. 

"The delivery of the obstructing pig requires careful, 
quiet manipulation, the sow being- disturbed as little as 
possible. Many patterns of 'pig forceps' are on the mar- 
ket, but I have found none superior or equal to a simple 



THE SOW : SELECTION AND MANAGEMENT 1 4 1 

wire hook. This, in the hands of a carefin operator, is 
a most efficient instrument. It can be quickly made 
from a piece of fence wire, but it is better to make two 
or three at leisure and have them on hand ready for use. 
A No. 9 or No. 10 steel wire is preferred. From half 
to three-fourths of an inch is bent at a right angle to 
constitute the hook, and the end sharpened. The handle 
part may be a foot or more in length, with the end bent 
at right angles or in the form of a circle, so that a secure 
hold may be had. The hook, by using the fingers as a 
guide, is inserted into the space between the bones of the 
lower jaw (either from within the mouth or from be- 
low) or into the socket of the eye. In case considerable 
traction is necessary two hooks should be inserted at 
different points and both drawn on at once. This lessens 
the danger of their tearing out. Traction upon the hooks 
should be made coincident with the labor pains, the oper- 
ator holding what has been gained until the next pain 
occurs. 

"If the assistance be given early the pig is usually se- 
cured alive and appears none the worse for having been 
brought into the world this way. In this, as in other 
lines of hog work, perseverance is the key to success, and 
the operator should not be discouraged if at first no 
progress is made. By the use of the hook and finger the 
writer was able to extract a litter from one of his own 
sows when the pigs had to be first sought after and 
brought back into the pelvis. To illustrate the necessity 
for early attention, another case from the herd may be 
mentioned : A young sow observed making prepara- 
tions for farrowing was watched, and after a long time, 



142 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



no headway being made, an examination revealed the 
presence of an unusually large pig, presenting posterior 
limbs first and blocking the passage. Traction on the 
hind limbs removed a live pig. In a short time the same 
operation was repeated, and so on until delivery was 
complete. A fine litter of large pigs was secured, and 
both mother and offspring did well. Long delay would 
have resulted in the loss of all, and neglect, even for a 
short time, would have been fatal to the pigs. The pre- 
vailing tendency to wait and see if the sow will not 
finally farrow without assistance yearly results in the loss 
of many sows which a little early attention would save. 
Neglect in separating the sow from her mates in good 
time is also a fruitful source of loss in some herds. 

"Following farrowing the quarters should be kept free 
from filth of all kinds. By keeping the pens clean much 
of the ulcerating sore mouths of the young and ulcerat- 
ing sore teats of the mother will be avoided. While the 
sore mouth does not always result from filthy quarters 
it is very apt to do so. Could the sow always be kept 
in a clean pen or yard the ulcerated teats which often 
ruin her as a future breeder would not occur." 

EXAMPLES OF GREAT PROLIFICACY 

The statements following this paragraph, represent- 
ing various breeds and localities, are collated from re- 
ports that have come under the author's observation, 
showing the wonderful prolificacy of some sows. They 
are not, however, given as suggesting that lie believes 
such large litters as are reported are to be coveted by any 



THE SOW : SELECTION AND MANAGEMENT 143 

farmer or breeder, except as they may be a valuable in- 
dication to customers that his hogs arc of prolific strains 
rather than the opposite, which is not infrequent in herds 
of pure-breds. In his judgment a sow that successively 
gives birth to litters of eight or nine, or even seven uni- 
form, vigorous pigs and brings them to the weaning age 
well nourished, growthy and robust, meets all reasonable 
requirements as a mother and far exceeds the average. 
In theory the extra large litters may be more than ordi- 
narily profitable, but in everyday practice and in the 
lono- run not one man in a hundred finds them so. 

o 

O. B. Johnson of Hendricks county, Indiana, owned a 
sow that within seven months had 40 pigs. In the first 
litter there were 19, and in the next 21. 

W. P. Hollenbeck of Schoharie county, New York, 
had a sow that in a little more than two years farrowed 
78 pigs, in five consecutive litters, of 14, 17, 14, 15 and 18 
respectively. 

A Cheshire sow belonging to E. C. Carpenter of Berk- 
shire county, Massachusetts, when 25^ months old, had 
given birth to 61 pigs in four litters, numbering 15, 14, 
15 and 17 respectively. 

Walter Bros, of Warren county. Ohio, owned a Du- 
roc-Jersey sow that farrowed 14, 10 and 18 pigs, or a 
total of 42 in less than one year. 

H. L. Ives of Barton county, Kansas, had a Duroc- 
Jersey that farrowed 13 pigs; then a second litter of 12, 
and a third litter of 20, or a total of 45 pigs in 1 1 months 
and five days. When this was all done she was but 23 
months and ten days old. From the three litters she 



144 SWINE IN AMERICA 

raised 12, seven and nine pigs respectively, or a total 
of 28. 

A Dexter, Minnesota, man reports to the Homestead 
that a sow of his between April 12, 1907, and April 16, 
1908, had litters of 19, 14 and 15, or 48 living- pigs. 

J. S. Buck of Washington comity, Arkansas, reports 
himself the owner of a "full-blooded scrub" sow 19 years 
old that raised 216 pigs — "generally six and never more 
than nine at one litter." 

Charles Price of Meade county, Kentucky, reported to 
the Farmers' Home Journal an "O. I. C." sow owned by 
him as having three successive litters of 17 pigs each and 
a later one of 16 pigs. These were sired by Duroc- 
Jersey and Poland-China boars, but none of the pigs 
were other than "snow white." 

George G. Barnes of Columbiana county, Ohio, had 
from a sow, between January, 1902, and October, 1903, 
four litters, aggregating J2 pigs. The first litter consisted 
of 18, the second 21, the third 19, and the fourth 14. 

Jacob McCready of New Brunswick owned a 3 ^-year- 
old sow that produced 19 pigs in September and 15 more 
the following March. The grandmother of this sow had 
farrowed 100 pigs when four years old. 

J. W. Yale of Connecticut owned a sow having 21 pigs 
in the spring and 15 the next fall. 

Philip Crewell of Lewis county, New York, had from 
a sow 139 pigs at nine farrowings, or an average of al- 
most 15^2 pigs per litter. 

I. N. Barker of Boone county, Indiana, owned a regis- 
tered Berkshire sow that gave a litter of 14 pigs which 
weighed 47 pounds when 24 hours old. 



THE SOW : SELECTION AND MANAGEMENT I45 

A Chester White sow belonging to J. C. Kay of Adams 
county, Nebraska, farrowed litters of 14, 16 and 17 pigs, 
or a total of 47 in eight days less than a year. 

J. F. Landers of Orange county, Vermont, owned a 
sow that farrowed 23 pigs, and his neighbor had a sow 
that raised 60 pigs out of six litters. 

C. H. Huddleston of Indiana reared and sold, at pork 
prices, from a Poland-China sow in five years 79 pigs 
for $1073.31, and three others unsold made an aggregate 
of 82 head. 

George M. Kellam of Shawnee county, Kansas, raised 
from a cross-bred Berkshire-Poland-China sow two lit- 
ters per year for 14 years. After raising two litters of 
8 and 6 pigs respectively, in her fourteenth year she was 
sold to the butcher when 15 years old. 

Taylor Bros, of Lynchburg, Tennessee, in answer to 
inquiries from the National Stockman stated that a Berk- 
shire sow, that died November, 1897, was owned in their 
family between ^2 and 34 years, "and in that time had 
raised about 900 fine, thrifty pigs, from which money 
enough was realized to buy a good farm." 

FECUNDITY OF TWO BREEDS COMPARED 

In Circular 95 of the Bureau of Animal Industry, 
Rommel has compiled from records of the Poland-China 
and Duroc-Jersey associations a fund of figures showing 
the fecundity of such a great number of sows of these 
breeds as to make their summing up thoroughly repre- 
sentative. Observations of 14.703 Poland-China litters 
in the five years, 1882-86, inclusive, disclosed an average 
of 7.04 pigs per litter. Observations of 39,812 litters 



I-Jfr SWINE IN AMERICA 

of the same breed in the years 1898-1902, showed an 
average of 7.52 pigs. This was an increase in the later 
live years of .48, or nearly one-half pig per litter, a- 
percentage of 6.81. 

From 1893 to 1897, inclusive, 3,762 Duroc-Jersey sows 
averaged 9.22 pigs each. From 1898 to 1902, inclusive, 
17,890 Duroc-Jersey sows averaged 9.27 pigs each, or 
an increase of .054 per cent. Of the more than 76,000 
sows of both breeds reported as under observation one 
Poland-China farrowed 20 pigs and two Duroc-Jerseys 
a like number. 

Rommel observes that while the Poland-China increase 
in the later period is not extraordinary, "an undoubted 
increase is evident, and the conclusion is inevitable that, 
contrary to popular opinion, the sows of the Poland- 
China breed have increased in fecundity during the last 
20 years." Also of the Duroc-Jersey statistics, "the fig- 
ures have little, if any, value as showing increase or 
decrease in fecundity; they are valuable as giving a cor- 
rect idea of the fecundity of the breed as a whole. Com- 
pared with those of the Poland-China breed, these results 
confirm common observation; viz., that Duroc-Jersey 
sows are more prolific than Poland-Chinas." 

AGED SOWS THE BEST FOR BREEDING 

An investigation at the Iowa experiment station to dis- 
cover the influence of the age of sows upon their prolifi- 
cacy and the weight and growth of the pigs they pro- 
duced gave some interesting results. It was found, for 
example, that fifteen sows bred at eight or nine months, 
averaged seven and two-thirds pigs per litter, while 14 



THE SOW : SELECTION AND MANAGEMENT 147 

sows about 24 months old averaged nine and six-tenths 
pigs per litter, and aged sows averaged ten and six- 
tenths per litter. Pigs from the younger sows weighed 
on an average 2.39 pounds per pig ; from the two-year- 
old sows 2.63, and from the aged sows 2.61 pounds. 
When about six weeks old the pigs from the young sows 
made an average daily gain of .^2 pounds, while the pigs 
from the two-year-old sows gained .40 pounds. No data 
is given on the gain of the pigs from the aged sows. 

Stated in another way it was found that the two-year- 
old sows farrowed 24 per cent more pigs than the young- 
sows, while the old sows farrowed 30 per cent more. The 
weight of the pigs from the two-year-old sows was nine 
per cent larger than that of the young sows, while the 
pigs from the old sows were 12 per cent larger than from 
the young sows. The pigs from the two-year-old sows 
made a more rapid gain than those from the young sows, 
amounting to 26 per cent. In each instance the older 
sows farrowed more pigs per litter, heavier pigs at birth, 
and their pigs made the most rapid growth after birth. 

A BREEDING CRATE 

Where large heavy boars are to be bred to small sows 
or small or short-legged boars to large sows what is 
known as a breeding crate is extremely useful and al- 
most a necessity for insuring a successful service. This 
crate is a simple affair. The accompanying illustration 
shows how it looks. It is a stout frame made of, say, 
2x4-inch scantlings, closed in front and open behind, 
with a bar adjusted to slip behind the sow above the 
hecks, and a 2x4-inch strip attached to the forward end 



148 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



o: the crate on either side at about where the sow's head 
comes, and extending to the rear and bottom where it is 
fastened. These strips are for the boar's forward feet 
to rest upon and hold his weight off the sow. A very 
good size for such a crate is 5^2 or 6 feet in length. 2 
feet 4 inches inside width, and 3 feet high. Cleats can 
be nailed crosswise of the crate floor to prevent the sow's 
slipping. When necessary, in breeding" a small boar to 
a large sow, a raised platform for his hind feet, such as 
the illustration shows, can be provided. 







A PRACTICAL BREEDING CRATE 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Pigs. Weaning and Growth 

A hog is half made when past the weaning period 
without a stunt or kink in its growth. Every check or 
halt in prosperity through its first two months is more 
expensive than at any later period. Too much rich, 
feverish milk of the dam, causing thumps or other ail- 
ment, may leave harmful results, perhaps as much so as 
scant feeding or other neglect of the sow. More in- 
jury may be done to a pig's growth in two or three days 
than can be repaired in a month, even if he is made the 
subject of special care, which, where many are raised, is 
not the rule nor easily practicable. "Good luck" with 
pigs calls for attention, and that not occasional, but fre- 
quent and regular. 

WEANING THE PIGS 

From the first week after farrowing until weaning 
time the sow will be little else than a milk machine, and 
to be a high-power machine in perfect operation she 
must have proper care. Nothing else is so well calcu- 
lated to make pigs grow as a bountiful supply of whole- 
some sow's milk, and the pigs that have plenty of other 
feed with the milk of a well-slopped sow for eight weeks 
will ordinarily have much the start of those weaned at 
live or six weeks, no matter how much food and atten- 
tion the earlier weaned pigs may have had. At eight or 

149 



ISO 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



nine weeks old most pigs are, or rather should be, fit to 
take away from the sow; some litters are individually 
older at seven weeks than others at ten, and better fitted 
for weaning. Sometimes it is necessary to wean when 
the pigs are five or six weeks old, and in other cases it 
may be advisable to wait until the pigs are ten weeks or 
even older. In the corn belt the period will generally 
average longer than in New England. Breeders who 
wean at early ages generally do so in order to more 
profitably raise two litters a year. 

Provided with and taught to eat suitable feed some 
weeks beforehand pigs are not noticeably checked in 
their growth by weaning, but those that have been de- 
pendent mainly upon the mother's milk, when abruptly 
taken away from it, frequently seem to have their growth 
partially suspended for weeks. Many breeders success- 
fully let the sow wean her pigs, as she will in time, and 
the change is so gradual that no pause in growth indi- 
cates when the milk diet ceased. A modified application 
of this, in which the pigs are separated from the sow at 
an age suiting their feeding and the convenience of the 
breeder, will not infrequently be found advisable, but by 
no means should the pigs be allowed to remain with a 
sow until she is virtually devoured by them as is some- 
times done. 

It is not a good plan to take all the pigs from the sow, 
unless one or two of them can be turned with her some 
hours after, to draw the milk she will have at that 
time, and again, say after a lapse of 24 hours. The 
preferred way is to leave about two of the smallest with 
her for several days, and after that leave only one for 



pigs: weaning and growth 151 

two or three days more, by which time the flow of milk 
will have been so gradually diminished that no injury 
will result to the sow by keeping them entirely away 
from her. This extra supply of milk helps also to push 
the smaller pigs along in growth and put them more 
nearly on an equality in size with their thriftier mates. 

THE PIGS' TROUGH AND FEEDING 

By the time the pigs are three weeks old they are 
likely to show some appetite for other food than the 
sow's milk by trying the mother's feed, nipping at grass 
and making an occasional effort at rooting. At this 
period a small trough should be placed in a part of the 
pen or lot inaccessible to the sow, but easily reached by 
the pigs, and into this about three or four times a day, 
for several days, a little sweet milk can be poured — 
whatever they will drink up clean, but not more, in- 
creasing the quantity as they grow older; then some 
shelled corn, soaked in pure water 24 hours or longer, 
should be given, and corn meal mush, scalded bran with 
shorts, and other nourishing food to make a healthful 
variety. The bran and shorts, scalded and made into a 
thin gruel, may be given at first in place of the skim 
milk. The pig's capacity is small, and he will require 
frequent feedings with fresh feed easy of digestion. 
Feed should never be permitted to remain in the troughs 
until stale, and the troughs should be kept clean. The 
little pigs will quickly learn what the troughs are for, 
and will utilize their contents more frequently as they 
increase in age. As weaning time approaches the sow's 
feed may gradually be changed to a sort that will make 



1=>2 SWINE IN AMERICA 

less milk until she is dry. The dry sows should properly 
have a pasture of their own, and their feeding should be 
moderate, and of a growth-making- rather than fat- 
forming character until they are again in pig. 

Following their weaning the proper policy is to feed 
the pigs for growth rather than fat, yet if at the age of 
eight weeks they are not plump and sleek it is pretty 
strong evidence that some of the conditions have been 
unfavorable. They should be thrifty, but not over fat. 
and have opportunity for plenty of exercise and sun- 
shine, which are useful preventives of thumps and scours, 
both after and before weaning. 

Where, to save them, it is found necessary to raise 
pigs by hand, and a bottle and nipple are not in ready 
reach, an old-fashioned substitute for the mother is a 
shallow tin dish with a piece of cloth drawn tightly 
through a hole in the bottom. The cloth should extend 
about an inch both above and below the bottom of the 
pan. \Yhen the pan is filled with warm, sweet milk 
and the upper end of the cloth is placed in the pig's 
mouth he will not be at a loss to locate the nourishment. 
The children will be glad to see that the pig's "pan 
mother" is ready at the proper times. 

DRY, WARM QUARTERS 

It should not be forgotten that for swine, as for 
all other stock, warmth is to a certain extent equivalent 
to food, for which reason comfortable surroundings 
have a money value, the protected animals not only re- 
quiring less food, but growing faster than their less 
favored relatives. A dry, warm sleeping place means 




A Two-Moiiths-Oltl Rape Plaut 



pigs: weaning and growth 153 

something - more than much bedding. If too much bed- 
ding- is provided the natural tendency is to allow it to 
remain longer in use than a smaller quantity would be, 
and it becomes damp and filthy. With fall pigs partic- 
ularly there is danger in such cases of cough or other 
ailments that are a check to thrift. A moderate quantity 
of bedding, changed so that the bed is always dry and 
decently clean, is far better than a large quantity. 

Damp beds and pens are a tax not only on the vitality 
of the pigs, but on the feed bin, and afford the conditions 
under which disease germs multiply. The preventive is 
abundant sunshine. One writer has said that swine 
breeders and feeders spend money enough for dis- 
infectants and cholera cures to pay the interest on the 
national debt, "and likefy the men who are spending the 
most money for loud-smelling disinfectants are the ones 
who fail to appreciate nature's best gift to man — sun- 
shine. It is the source of life to vegetable and animal. 
The wood and coal we feed our fires with are but stored- 
up sunshine. Sunshine warms and cheers. It is essen- 
tial to life. It is as essential to health. Its power to 
destroy germs of disease is really a new discovery. Our 
mothers knew the value of sunshine as a sweetener of 
milk crocks and feather beds, but the why they knew not, 
but so long as they loved tidiness and sweetness in the 
milk room and home and were careful to keep the crocks 
and beds sweet by exposure to the sun, they were killing 
microbes just as surely as did the scientist who proved 
his work, and gave us the result of his patient effort." 



154 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



CASTRATION 



The boar pigs, where it is not desired to reserve them 
for breeding purposes, should be castrated when from 
two to ten weeks old, so they may recover from its result- 
ing soreness before weaning time. Castrating should be 
done when the weather is cool, and flies are not numer- 
ous. The pig that is to be fattened has no need to de- 
velop sexual characteristics, and for that reason a fairly 
early castration is advisable. Spaying sows is a more 
difficult operation than the castration of boars, and on 
that account is not largely practiced. It should be done 
after the sow is ten or 12 weeks old, and then only by 
a person entirely familiar with the proper method. Cas- 
tration and spaying are more fully discussed in the chap- 
ter devoted to these subjects. 

FATTENING PIGS 

Up to the time of weaning all the pigs in a litter are 
fed on the same basis; after that time the manner of 
feeding will depend on whether they are headed for the 
slaughterhouse or breeding pen. If any are for breed- 
ing stock, their growth-making feed will be continued 
while those to be fattened should have more carbona- 
ceous rations. 

"Growing pigs, and especially those designed for 
breeding stock," says W. A. Henry, "should be abun- 
dantly nourished on feeds rich in protein, since these 
favor the development of both bone and muscle. Mid- 
dlings are the best single feeding stuff, and should be 
extensively used whenever possible. Ground field peas, 
cowpeas and soy beans may also be used, the latter 



pigs: weaning and growth 155 

two being especially available in the southern states. In 
no case feed cottonseed meal to pigs. Skim milk and 
buttermilk are of the highest value. An ideal mixture 
would be four pounds of skim milk, two pounds of mid- 
dlings and one pound of corn meal for young pigs. In 
place of the middlings cowpeas or soy beans might be 
substituted, if available. A run on a pasture seeded with 
crimson clover or Japanese clover for the south, and blue 
grass or red clover for the more northerly points [or 
alfalfa anywhere] is almost an essential; in any event, 
a good range must be given for young breeding stock. 
With good pasture and abundant exercise, pigs designed 
for breeding purposes can be fed practically to the limit 
of their desire. Of course, no feed should ever remain 
in the trough, and it is well to have the animals willing 
to take just a little more, as an active, well bred am- 
bitious pig is always desirous of doing." 

In these days the American pig makes a speedy jour- 
ney from farrowing bed to scalding tub, and the aim of 
the judicious feeder is to add constantly to the flesh ac- 
quired while suckling, bringing the hog up to 250 to 450 
pounds as early and on as inexpensive feed as possible. 
The young animal will naturally put on weight more 
cheaply than an older one, and gains after ten months 
cost considerably more per pound than those made ear- 
lier. A pig which is being fattened should gain from 
one to two pounds a day, and weigh, alive, 250 to 350 
pounds when nine to 12 months old. 

PALL PIGS 

The possibilities of profit in fall pigs will depend 
upon the ability and situation of the breeder. Sou):' 



1^6 SWINE IN AMERICA 

swine raisers will make winter pigs profitable in the 
face of all the disadvantages which may attend their 
rearing, while others obtain little profit from spring 
litters reared with every advantage. Where snow falls, 
the fall pigs will require a good deal of care and warm, 
dry pens, and not so many can be handled well in winter 
weather as may be cared for in summer, when growing 
feed is abundant and exercise is natural. A difficulty 
with fall pigs, if the climate is at all severe, is in their 
desire to avoid exercise in cold weather. A calf or a 
colt will make the most of his freedom on a wintry day, 
securing both exercise and warmth by playing and 
moving about, but a hog is inclined to eat and take to 
his bed until time to eat again. Various methods of 
overcoming this in a measure have been suggested, but 
it is difficult to give any which will meet all situations. 
Herding with corn-fed cattle has been found to work 
well and where the cattle are fed all the corn they will 
eat, the pigs will obtain exercise in picking grain from 
the droppings. 

Pigs cannot thrive on ice water, and in cold weather 
should have access to drink less chilly. Slop fed to 
them moderately warmed is much better than if near 
die freezing point. 

Late or winter litters in a cold climate may properly 
be classed as hothouse product, and pigs that come in 
November, December or January and are saved from 
perishing only by the use of stoves and coddling in 
close, stuffy quarters are likely to be more or less stunted 
and undersized — not a money-making lot at best. Fall 



pigs: weaning and growth 157 

pigs should come early enough that they may be weaned 
before snow time. 

Fall pigs should not be kept together in large numbers ; 
eight or ten are enough for one pen, as they are likely 
to pile up so that the steaming of their bodies will render 
them liable to colds. They should have the nearest sub- 
stitute for fresh, green food that the owner can pro- 
vide, and be given access to salt and cob charcoal or 
similar correctives, tonics or appetizers. 

Feeds for winter pigs must necessarily be more expen- 
sive than for summer pigs; more food is required to 
produce a pound of pork in winter than in summer, since 
a greater amount has to be utilized in merely keeping 
the body warm. If the price of pork remains the same, 
a dollar's worth of feed stuffs fed to summer-grown 
hogs will return a greater profit than a dollar thus 
invested for winter-grown hogs. The matter reduces 
itself to this: to make winter pig-growing pay, summer 
conditions as to both cheapness of feed and comfortable 
surroundings must be approached as nearly as possible. 

The foregoing suggestions apply, of course, to the 
more northern sections of the United States. In the 
South and milder sections of the Pacific coast region 
less exacting conditions prevail. 

NEED OF EXERCISE 

It should not be forgotten that a growing pig needs 
abundant exercise. This will not only stimulate growth, 
but it will also do much to ward off sickness. Many out- 
breaks of disease miVht have been avoided if its victims 



I58 SWINE IN' AMERICA 

had not been too closely confined. A pig having ample 
exercise is pretty well insured against thumps. A suc- 
cessful breeder whose pigs were never afflicted with 
thumps attributed their immunity to the fact that he kept 
a large box near the pen and if any pig began to be un- 
duly fat and particularly chuffy around the neck it was 
put into the box and left to squeal and chase about for 
two hours at a time in endeavor to escape. The treatment 
was repeated once or twice a day until the pig showed 
satisfactory evidence of being in no danger. 

MARKING PIGS 

With the beginner in pure-bred swine-raising there is 
always the problem of how best to mark his pigs for 
identifying the litters or sows to which they belong. No 
system has been devised which is entirely satisfactory, be- 
cause the metal buttons or tags made for such use are 
frequently torn out and lost, and markings with slits 
or notches in the ears are liable to change or obliteration 
by accidents. A method perhaps as simple and effective 
as any in use is shown by the illustration herewith, in 
which the marking consists of notches cut in the ears. A 
notch in the right ear counts for one, and a notch in the 
left ear counts for three. When the first litter arrives all 
the pigs belonging to it can be given one notch in the 
upper part of the outside of the right ear. Litter No. 
2 can have two notches in the right ear, which means 
2, because the one and one mean 2 ; the third litter is 
marked with one notch in the left ear, which, as stated, 
means 3 ; pigs of the fourth litter are given one notch in 
each ear, because the one and three mean 4; the fifth 



pigs: weaning and growth 159 

sow's pigs are marked two notches in the right ear and 
one in the left, because 2 and 3 make 5 ; litter No. 6 is 
marked two notches in the left ear, while litter No. 
7 is marked two in the left and one in the right; 
No. 8, two in the left and two in the right; No. 9, 
three in the left and No. 10, three in the left and one 
in the right. If there are more than ten sows the 

fro b:'$ Cf# &P tr'tf 

<§r <§T <§T <sT &" 

C£# fc# &;p ce# to? 

•Cf '-—' -O *5> *-* 

A SIMPLE SYSTEM OF EAR MARKING 

same method can be used for their litters, up to ten, 
placing the notches in the lower part of the ears. For 
pigs of sows in numbers from 20 to 30 the notches 
can be in the top of the ear. Sometimes the litters be- 
tween ten and twenty are marked the same as between 
one and ten, with the exception that a notch is put in the 
top of one ear, which simply indicates that all pigs so 
marked are numbered between ten and 20 and not be- 
tween one and ten. On little pigs the notches should be 
made quite small, otherwise disfigurement will result 
when the hog is grown. Noticeable disfigurement of any 
sort on animals intended for exhibition, places them at 
a disadvantage in a close competition, perhaps depriving 
them of an otherwise merited prize, and this should be 
borne in mind when marking is being done. 



CHAPTER IX 

Pasturing and Soiling 

Wheresoever situated, no tanner is rightly prepared to 
raise hogs profitably in any considerable numbers unless 
well provided with pasture and grass or facilities for 
providing acceptable substitutes. In the economical 
growing of pork there is no more important factor to be 
considered than that of pasture. Range in pasture af- 
fords growing animals the exercise so necessary to 
health and proper development ; and the succulent 
grasses, while rich in muscle and bone-forming mate- 
rials, tend to prevent disease and to counteract the 
heating and fever-imparting properties of corn. This 
latter quality, and exercise, annually save many thou- 
sands of dollars to hog-raisers in the United States, 
yet the loss that results every day to farmers who do 
not act upon the fact that the hog is, in his normal 
condition, a ranging and grass-eating animal, is still 
enormous. Because the hog is tractable and uncomplain- 
ing his keeper often does not realize that an effort to 
maintain him wholly upon the more concentrated and 
heating feeds is as unnatural and unprofitable as it would 
be to keep horses or cows in the same manner. A further 
and very important consideration in favor of grass and 
forage for swine in summer is its small cost, which, as 
compared with grain-feeding, is merely nominal. 

ICO 



PASTURING AND SOILING 



161 



It is well put by Director H. J. Waters of the Mis- 
souri experiment station, in Bulletin No. 79, and with a 
wide application elsewhere, outside of his state, in his 
averment that "perhaps the largest single waste occur- 
ring on the Missouri farm is that which comes from the 
too exclusive use of corn in growing and fattening hogs. 
The cheapest and most easily applied remedy is a more 
general use of the proper forage plants in summer and 
the use of some home-grown protein in winter. It is 
not, of course, to be denied that the hog is primarily a 
grain consuming animal, but forage plays an important 
role in economical hog production and deserves far 
more attention than it has yet received." 

COMPARATIVE VALUE OF PASTURE FOOD 

A comparison merely of the nutritive values in the 
product of an acre of land in grain or in grass, including 
the legumes, such as clover, particularly red clover, and 
alfalfa, serves to show the importance of the grass. If 
a comparative basis be taken of four pounds of grain or 
15 pounds of green clover or alfalfa to make one pound 
of pork, and the pork is valued at four cents a pound, 
the following table will show a fair average : 

NUTRITIVE MATERIAL PRODUCED ON ONE ACRE OF LAND 
IN CEREALS OR LEGUMES 



Product 


Gross Product 
per acre 


Pork per 
acre 


Value at 4 
cents per lb. 


Wheat 


1 5 bushels 
35 
40 
40 

25 " 
6 tons 
10 " 


900 pounds 

1,680 

1,320 

2,240 

1,500 
12,000 
20,000 


225 pounds 
420 
330 
560 
375 
800 
1,333 


$9.00 




16 80 


Oats 


13 20 




22 40 


Peas 


15 00 




32.00 


Green alfalfa 


53.32 







1 62 SWINE IN AMERICA 

This estimate of the product of an acre of clover or of 
alfalfa may be considered rather low (especially for 
alfalfa), as often a larger yield is obtained in a favor- 
able season. In fact, in an experiment at the Oregon 
station (Bulletin No. 80) in which 12 pigs about three 
months old were hurdled on good clover from May 2 to 
August 2, results nearly one-third better were secured. 
In addition to the clover the pigs were given 317 pounds 
of shorts (worth $11 a ton), 69 pounds of whole milk 
(worth 90 cents a hundredweight) and 1,207 pounds of 
skim milk (worth 15 cents a hundredweight ) . A gain of 
253 pounds was reported, valued at 4^2 cents a pound. 
The pigs utilized 26 square rods of clover. As the gain 
was worth $11.38 and the supplementary feed (shorts 
and milk) cost but $4.17, the profit by means of clover 
pasture was $7.21, from which the deduction was made 
in the report of the experiment that "it seems that one 
acre of good clover for growing hogs represents a value 

of $44-36." 

If the foregoing table, compiled by the author from the 
figures of scientific observers, may be accepted as reliable 
in practice, it is evident that an acre of alfalfa is worth 
for growing swine as much as six acres of average 
wheat, more than four acres of good oats, almost as 
much as 2 2-5 acres of good corn, and equal in value 
to 1 2-3 acres of clover. 

SOILING 

Soiling may be defined as the practice of providing 
confined live stock with freshly cut forage. Its advan- 
tages have long been recognized, and one of the earliest 






PASTURING AND SOILING .163 

recorded American experiments was that of Josiah 
Quincy, by which he found that 20 cows could be sup- 
plied by soiling from 17 acres of land, while 50 acres 
were necessary to pasture a like number. 

Soiling crops are more frequently used for the larger 
animals than for swine, and the greater number of ex 
periments with green food for swine have been with 
pasturage. A dairy cow may be more successfully 
maintained by soiling than on pasture, but a hog, kept 
in a pen and furnished grass only, would prove unprof- 
itable. This was tested at the Utah station (Bulletin No. 
40), where shotes confined in pens and fed on green 
forage exclusively, mainly alfalfa, lost more than 34 
pound per day during a period of three months. 

This does not at all signify that soiling may not be 
valuable in swine-rearing, but it emphasizes the impor- 
tance of supplemental feeding. If grain is the main 
feed, pasturage or soiling may supplement it, while to 
hogs on even the best of alfalfa pasture the ear or more 
of corn that may be given daily will be the supplemen- 
tary part of the ration. In any case the ratio of feeds 
should be so adjusted that the hogs will not lose weight 
or remain at a standstill. The feeder should consider al- 
ways that any day between weaning and starting to mar- 
ket in which the hogs do not make some gain is a day 
lost, if not worse. 

VALUE OF PASTURE AND SOILING 

Results at the experiment stations, so far as reported, 
show that soiling swine may be entirely profitable. 
In Utah, where the problem "resolves itself into 



164 SWINE IN AMERICA 

growing pigs with a minimum quantity of grain and a 
maximum of alfalfa, milk and whey, or other cheap 
foods," numerous experiments have been conducted to 
demonstrate the status of pasturage and soiling (Bulle- 
tins Nos. 40, 70 and 94). Various tests with pigs fed by 
soiling compared with others on a grain ration (Bulletin 
No. 70) gave from the soiling a saving of nearly ten per 
cent in the feed required to make one pound of gain, 
besides a daily gain nearly one-fourth of a pound better. 

From 1890 to 1902 more than 100 tests were made at 
the Utah station, which were of direct or comparative 
value regarding pasturage and soiling for swine. Aver- 
age results of these are given in the table on page 165, 
from Bulletin No. 94 of the Utah station, in which con- 
clusions are drawn from the experiments. 

The following comment was made in the bulletin con- 
taining the following table concerning the results of us- 
ing part-grain and full-grain rations in connection with 
pasturage : "The table shows that 14 tests were made, 
with 43 hogs on pasture and given a part-grain ration. 
It is obvious that the hogs fed on the light-grain ra- 
tions did proportionately much better than those fed with 
a full-grain ration ; that is, the gain per day was greater 
than the ration of grain would indicate, showing that the 
hogs ate a large proportion of pasture grass and made 
good use of it. A simple calculation will show this. The 
hogs fed a full-grain ration on pasture made an average 
gain of 1.22 pounds per day. Theoretically, those fed a 
three-fourths-grain ration should have gained but .91 



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1 66 SWINE IN AMERICA 

pouna per day; they gameu, however, 1.04 pounds per 
day. Those fed on a one-half -grain ration gained .70 
■pound a day per hog, instead of .61 pound; and those fed 
on a one-fourth-grain ration gained .49 pound per day, 
instead of the theoretical amount, .30 pound a day. In 
fact, the amount of food obtained from the pasture must 
have been much more than is indicated, as the food of 
support is a constant factor and makes up about two- 
fifths of the full-grain ration. The hogs getting the one- 
fourth-grain ration, therefore, did not receive enough 
grain to support the life processes of the body, and must 
have made up this deficiency from the pasture grass and 
also have eaten enough extra to make a gain of practi- 
cally half a pound per day. In the earlier tests made in 
feeding on a pasture of mixed grasses, there were four 
trials in which ten hogs were used. These showed that 
the hogs gained one-third pound per day on pasture 
alone. 

"When fed a limited grain ration on pasture, the hogs 
ate less grain for each pound of gain than when fed 
the full-grain ration. Using round numbers, a three- 
fourths-grain ration saved one-third pound of grain ; a 
one-half-grain ration, one pound of grain; a one-fourth- 
grain ration, iK> pounds of grain for each pound of in- 
crease in live weight. Or, at 75 cents per 100 pounds of 
t lie grain, tin's would be a saving in cost of production of 
l A cent, H cent, and 1% cents for each pound of gain 
respectively, if nothing is charged for the pasture. 

"Our experience shows that the hogs fed on a limited 
grain ration on pasture gained quite rapidly when later 
put on a full-grain ration, and made those gains at a 






PASTURING AND SOILING 167 

slightly less cost for food than the hogs fed a full- 
grain ration." 

Considering the financial side, with the price of grain 
as stated, the lot fed with "grain alone on pasture re- 
quired $5.32 worth of grain, while the value of the gain 
was $8.13, showing a profit of $2.71 on the feed, or 
more than 50 per cent. If the gain was worth four 
cents per pound, then the profit on the grain was over 
100 per cent. With a half-grain ration on pasture, the 
returns, with the gain valued at three cents a pound, are 
over 100 per cent on the cost of the grain, and at four 
cents per pound for the gain nearly 200 per cent profit. 
On this point again a limited-grain ration on pasture 
gives the largest returns for the grain fed." 

LIMITATIONS OF PASTURAGE 

The quantity of food required merely to sustain an 
animal is not inconsiderable, and this will be influenced 
somewhat by the effort necessary to secure it. Too wide 
a range in pasture may therefore be disadvantageous in 
encouraging the hog to become too much of a traveler. 
On the other hand, the swine-raiser who gives his hogs 
all the corn they will eat, with plenty of water and shade 
in the feed-lot, may wonder why his hogs prefer lying 
down and resting between meals to roaming in available 
pasture. Profitable results demand a reasonable limita- 
tion in both directions, and an avoidance always of excess 
in either. 

It is doubtful whether unlimited pasture may be con- 
sidered economical except perhaps, for brood sows. The 
proper amount of land to give over to pasture must 



1 68 SWINE IN AMERICA 

necessarily vary according to its quality and other local 
considerations, and the length of time the pasture will 
sustain hogs likewise is dependent upon the climate, qual- 
ity of the crop, age and number of the animals, and 
other varying conditions. For an average it may be said 
that an acre of red clover should support six to ten hogs 
for three or four months. Alfalfa, the leading pasture 
plant for swine, should provide, if of vigorous growth, 
for twelve to twenty-five animals per acre, but an alfalfa 
stand should not be grazed by so many hogs that mow- 
ings will not be necessary for keeping it in the best con- 
dition. The practice with alfalfa should be to pasture 
fewer hogs than will be able to keep back a rank or 
woody growth. If only such number of hogs is kept 
on the alfalfa as will permit from one to three cuttings 
of hay being harvested from it in course of the season 
the pasturage will, on account of its fresh growths, be 
much better for the hogs, and the money values returned 
be considerably greater. Blue grass may be allotted eight 
to 12 hogs per acre, and more if the grass is in first- 
class condition. A good sod of Bermuda grass should 
provide for about the same number. Cowpeas will prob- 
ably support six or eight thrifty shotes, and artichokes, 
chufas and Spanish peanuts will supply eight or ten hogs, 
the length of time depending upon the proportion of 
grain provided. These estimates may be entirely out of 
line in some instances, as modifications are liable to oc- 
cur in the conditions governing any situation. Taking 
f hese into consideration, however, a hog-raiser may use 
the foregoing as suggestions to figure from, and by the 



PASTURING AND SOILING 1 69 

observation of his own situation for a season or two 
he will be able to arrange his crop areas according to 
his individual needs and facilities. 

As indicated, it is desirable that the pasture shall not 
be too large, and particularly when hogs are first turned 
in, as their natural instinct for foraging will otherwise 
induce them to traverse too much territory, thereby 
injuring the crop and failing to reap its full value. This 
may be avoided by using- portable fences or hurdles 
with which the .proper area may be defined. If this 
is done the hogs will clean up the crop to the best ad- 
vantage as they go. If it is tubers, beans and peas, much 
that would otherwise be destroyed will be utilized, and 
the fences can be moved as occasion may require. Re- 
striction of the hogs' roaming is not so necessary on 
grass, clover or alfalfa pasture. Overstocking any pas- 
ture is to be avoided. If too many hogs are turned in, 
or, what is practically the same thing, the area is too 
small, its vegetation may be entirely killed and the hogs 
fail to thrive. 

EARLY PASTURAGE 

A bite of something green early in the year is relished 
by swine of any age, and it offers qualities highly valued 
by the farmer who understands the economy of feeding. 
Some hig - hly rated pasture plants are not available before 
warm weather, although they may then be the chief re- 
liance for grazing, hence earlier substitutes should be 
provided. The matter of pasture or pasture substitutes 
should, in -fact, be taken in hand a year or two in advance 
of the actual need. Blue grass and alfalfa are naturally 



I70 SWINE IN AMERICA 

among the best for early pasture. Blue grass or orchard 
grass will supply green feed as soon as the snow is off. 
Alfalfa is on hand early and late in the regions where 
it flourishes. Rye, in its territory, sown somewhat early 
in the fall, makes an excellent substitute for grass early 
the following spring. For a quick-growing crop sowed 
in the spring rape is probably to be accorded first place, 
as hogs may be turned in on it when it is a foot high, 
which will be within a few weeks from sowing. 

SUCCOTASH 

A mixture crop may be used to good advantage for 
preliminary pasturage. A sowing of equal parts wheat, 
oats and barley, mixed, with the addition of 2 pounds 
of rape seed to the acre, supplies good spring grazing. 
"Succotash" is a term applied in recent years to various 
mixtures sowed together and designed for either for- 
age or soiling. These mixtures admit of considerable 
range, but usually consist of one or more legumes, one 
or more smaller cereals, and corn. Experiments in this 
line have not been extensive enough to determine what 
mixtures would be standard for special purposes, and at 
present the term succotash may be applied to any mix- 
ture of green crops for live stock feeding. 

A succotash crop may be purposely shortlived, and 
to tide over an emergency, or it may be so calculated as 
to return two soiling crops, with a moderate grazing 
between the cuttings. In the former instance it will 
probably be grazed off" closely, and its usefulness ended. 
When it is some crop that will yield a growth after the 
first cutting the mixture should not be of such varieties 



PASTURING AND SOILING 171 

that the rapid growth of one will smother others of a 
slower growth. 

The Michigan experiment station obtained good results 
with succotash crops (Bulletin No. 235). It was found 
that a "succotash mixture, consisting of corn, peas, oats, 
rape and clover, is an extremely useful combination and 
that it can be produced as regularly and successfully as 
any other crop or mixture if properly treated. Though 
the first attempt was to use this mixture as a forage crop 
for swine, it has not proved so valuable for that pur- 
pose as was expected. When the succotash was grazed 
off, the losses were heavy from the trampling and wal- 
lowing of the animals; in fact, so much so that it had 
to be hurdled off, giving them access to but a limited 
area every few days, and this is a somewhat expensive 
and troublesome method. When cut, hauled, and fed in 
the hog lots or pens there was little or no loss. When 
the rape and clover were bitten off close to the ground 
by hogs many plants failed to grow again ; when cut 
higher with a scythe they did not fail to grow. The 
composition of this succotash does not vary greatly 
from that of green corn in the earlier stages when 
used for soiling. If succotash is grown to any great 
extent for soiling purposes it should be sown at two 
or three different dates, the first late in April or early 
in May, the others following at intervals of ten days or 
two weeks. From the different dates of seeding some one 
or more of the lots is almost sure to produce a second 
growtk suited for swine pasture. The ability to secure a 
crop of clover on the same ground the next season is at 
present uncertain, but is well worth trying for." 



I/-' 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



GREEN RYE PASTURAGE 



Concerning the use of rye, Thomas Bennett, an Illi- 
nois hog-raiser of long experience, says: "As early pas- 
turage for hogs my experience tells me that there is 
nothing better than rye in Central Illinois. The rye 
should be sowed not later than September i, if possible. 
When they are large enough, ring the pigs and turn them 
on, and they will have good grazing up to May 10 or 15 
following. If the rye should become too rank in the 
latter part of April, turn the milk cows in with the 
hogs and keep them there until about the middle of May ; 
then take everything off and you will harvest a fair crop 
of rye. As soon as your rye is harvested, plow the 
ground and sow rye as before. Your land becomes 
richer, and you have an abundance of good pasture. It 
would be a good plan to have a patch of clover to turn 
the hogs on when taken from the rye." 

The late I. N. Barker, who was a successful Indiana 
breeder, wrote: "We can say from long experience that 
for extra early pasturage blue grass and rye make the 
best combination. These can even be pastured in the 
winter when there is little or no snow. In May or June 
clover is the most valuable hog-pasture we ever tried. 
After rye is used for early pasture it should be turned 
under with a breaking plow about May 15, the ground 
leveled with a harrow and then sown in rape or oats, or 
both together — we prefer them sown together — the seed 
being well harrowed in. This will make a splendid green 
tender feed when the clover and other grasses begin to 
be old and tough. We find that our hogs like this green 




o 
o 

I 



* 






TV'S®---- ■ "*" *v ' \ ' I V> <s 



M 

5 



%> V^« 






PASTURING AND SOILING 1 73 

oats and rape in midsummer better than any other green 
feed we ever prepared for them. They are in this pas- 
ture early and late and thrive on it remarkably well. It 
is healthful and a very cheap feed." 

RAPE 

The Wisconsin station has probably made more tests 
of rape as a pasture food for swine than have been un- 
dertaken elsewhere, and summing- them all up, Prof. 
W. L. Carlyle, who was in charge, says they seem to 
warrant the following conclusions : 

That with pigs from 4 to 10 months old representing 
the various breeds, an acre of rape, properly grown, has 
a feeding value, when combined with a ration of corn 
and shorts, equivalent to 2,436 pounds of a mixture of 
these grain feeds and a money value of $19.49 per acre. 

That rape is a better green feed fop growing pigs than 
good clover pasture, the pigs fed upon the rape having 
made on the average 100 pounds of gain on 33.5 pounds 
less grain than was required by the pigs fed upon clover 
pasture. 

That pigs are more thrifty, have better appetites and 
make correspondingly greater gains when supplied with 
a rape pasture in conjunction with their grain feed than 
when fed on grain alone. 

That a plat of Dwarf Essex (the preferable variety) 
forage rape when planted in drills 30 inches apart, early 
in May in Wisconsin, will yield three good crops of pas- 
ture foragfe in a favorable season. 



i~4 SWINE IN AMERICA 

That rape is the most satisfactory and cheapest green 
feed for swine that we have fed. 

That every feeder of hogs in Wisconsin should plant 
each spring a small field of rape adjoining his hog yard, 
and provide himself with a few rods of movable fence, 
to properly feed the rape to brood sows and young pigs. 

That rape should be sown for this purpose in drills 30 
inches apart to facilitate the stirring of the ground and 
cultivation after each successive growth has been eaten 
off. 

That hogs should not be turned upon a rape pasture 
until the plants are at least 12 to 14 inches high and that 
they should be prevented from rooting while in the rape 
field. 

That rape alone is not a satisfactory feed when it is 
desired to have any live weight gain made in hogs, 
though it has been found that they will just about main- 
tain themselves without loss of weight on rape. 

Rape grows rapidly; it may be sown at successive 
intervals so as to afford continuous pasturage from the 
first of June until frost and a large supply of food from 
a given area. Hogs do not take to rape readily at first, 
but soon acquire a taste for it and eat it freely. It has an 
excellent effect on the quality of the product, giving 
almost invariably a firm carcass. Three pounds of seed 
per acre give a very good stand, if the seed is fresh and 
of good quality. If the rape is too thin on the ground it 
grows somewhat coarse in texture and is not eaten so 
readily. 

The editor of the Dakota Farmer says : "Dwarf Essex 
rape is a godsend to the northwestern hog-grower; it 



PASTURING AND SOILING 1/5 

should he found on every farm, and where anything 
will grow in the Dakotas it will succeed." 

Professor Henry says every man with pigs should 
have rape for them. "Provide an acre of rape of each 
2500 pounds of growing pigs that are to he fed upon it. 
As soon as the plants are a foot high turn in the pigs. 
They will greedily eat the leaves, and gain about enough 
nourishment to support their bodies, and this being true 
all the extra feed will go for gain. Corn, middlings, etc., 
should be fed with the rape. A great advantage of rape 
feeding is that it keeps the digestive tract expanded 
and in healthful condition. Pigs fed rape fatten quickly 
and very cheaply. Sow none but the Dwarf Essex. 
Many farmers have bought oil rape seed or bird seed 
rape, and the crop proved a failure. Sow two or three 
pounds per acre when drilled and four or five pounds 
broadcasted. Every pig raiser who has not yet tried 
rape is urged to do so." 

A PORTABLE BOARD FENCE 

A simple portable fence is made with panels 12 or 16 
feet long of four ix6-inch boards. Commencing at the 
bottom, the first two boards are placed 6 inches apart, 
while the third and top ones may be 7 inches apart. The 
boards are held in place by ix_L-inch slats, one placed 
6 inches from either end and the other placed in the 
center. The bottom piece of the triangle which is to 
support the hurdle is 3 feet 6 inches long and made of 
ix6-inch stuff. In the center of this piece is cut a 
notch 3 inches deep and 2 inches wide. The sides of the 



176 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



triangle are made of ix_|.-inch pieces 4 feet long, with 
a notch corresponding- to the one in the baseboard cut 
in the top. This fence is hog-proof, is easily and cheaply 
constructed, will not blow over, and is easily transported 
from place to place. 




A MOVABLE PANELED HOG FENCE. 



COWPEAS 

The cowpea is described as being to the South what 
alfalfa is to the West and red clover to the North — a 
forage plant well adapted to the needs of the region — 
and esteemed among the best of crops for grazing and 
soiling. By a judicious selection of varieties, fields ready 
for use can be had from midsummer until cold weather, 
and a good part of what is needed for this purpose can 
be grown as a "catch crop" without interference with 
the regular crops grown on the same ground. This is 
especially so when they are grown between corn rows, 
being- planted when the corn is "laid by" and grazed 
after the corn is gathered. Probably one-half of the 
cowpeas grown in the southern states are grown and 
grazed in this way, and are regarded as providing the 
best possible pasture for swine. When pastured, the 
droppings from the animals return nearly all of the 
fertilizing elements of the crop to the soil, and benefit 



PASTURING AND SOILING 177 

the field nearly as much as though the entire crop were 
plowed under as a green manure. The meat and milk 
produced represent clear profit. The crop does not bear 
continuous grazing, still it gives abundant feed for a 
month or six weeks, and by arranging a succession of 
fields, good pasture may be provided during several 




POD OF COWPEA. 

months. More actual feed is produced with less waste 
per acre when the vines are cut or pulled for soiling, for 
which cowpeas are a standard crop in the southern states 
wherever soiling is practiced. Bulletin No. ioo of the 
Mississippi station says that there cowpeas for hog 
pasture, without grain, have given better results than 
any other crop. In one test the crop was grown on thin 
hill land, where one acre of cowpeas produced 350 



178 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



pounds of pork. In another test on rich valley land one 
acre of cowpeas produced 483 pounds of pork. The 
hogs were turned into the field when the peas were about 
ripe. Cowpeas do well sown as far north as Central 
.Illinois. 




SAND OR HAIRY VETCH. 



SAND VETCHES 

A writer who claims to know says southern farmers 
who are raising swine, and want "the best, most nourish- 
ing and quickest-growing pastures, should sow, just be- 
fore wheat-sowing time in the fall, sand vetches mixed 
with rye. The hogs may be turned on this when it has 
made a 5-inch growth, and it will afford good pasture 
throughout the winter if not too closely eaten down." 



PASTURING AND SOILING 1 79 

PASTURING ON STUBBLE FIELDS 

Occasionally a farmer thinks it economy to turn his 
swine, for gleaning purposes, on a grain stubble field 
where there is a stand of young grass or clover started. 

]n commenting upon such a practice, L. N. Bonham of 
Butler county, Ohio, has said : "We have always con- 
sidered turning stock onto the young clover and tim- 
othy after grain harvest a losing business. The sooner 
the pasturing begins the worse for the coming crop. The 
young stuff has not yet firmly rooted and is heavily 
taxed by heat and drought and much of it will perish if 
the weather is unfavorable. In its feeble condition the 
extra tax of trampling and grazing will destroy much 
more. With young plants, as young animals, we need to 
lend a helping hand to insure the best growth. There 
is no profit in runts. The young clover and grass in 
the stubble fields are not there for tiding over the stock 
this season, but to fill barns next year with abun- 
dance, and what is of far more importance to the future 
of the farm, to fill the soil with a lusty growth of roots 
that may feed coming crops. If one is compelled to pas- 
ture the stubble fields in which young grass and clover 
have started, the damage is much less if stock is kept off 
until there is a good bite, the young plants are more 
firmly rooted, and the fall rains have carried them over 
the trying period that follows harvest. There is more 
lost than gained by pasturing stubble fields set to grass 
and clover." 



ISO SWINE IN AMERICA 

ROTATION OF PASTURAGE 

The question of early pasturage is really involved in 
a much broader one — that of the proper rotation of pas- 
ture crops. A comparatively limited area will grow all 
the green feed that hogs can utilize, and it is of much 
greater importance to know how to supply economically 
such feed continuously through as much of the year as 
the climate will permit than to furnish a large quantity 
at one period and scant, woody grazing a little later. A 
well-arranged rotation will involve some additional ex- 
pense and labor, but where hogs are raised in numbers, 
the better condition and growth, especially of breeding 
animals, and the saving in the more costly feeds will 
prove an ample recompense. 

Professor W. M. Hays, when connected with the Min- 
nesota experiment station, gave considerable attention to 
discovering the best system of pasture-crop rotation, 
and has presented the most sensible plan so far worked 
out, at least for the northern section of the United 
States. It gives, as he expressed it, "an outline of how 
land can be used for continuous hog pastures : 

"The land is divided into four fields and fenced hog- 
tight. If practicable, a lane connects the hog-house witli 
each of the four fields, and small inexpensive hog-houses 
or hog shades in the field are almost necessary. Some of 
these may be portable. Such small fields, 4x10 rods, may 
seem ridiculous, but most farmers have more than an 
acre for their hogs, and this plan will apply even if there 
are 80 acres devoted to growing hog pasture. 

"Figuring out rotation is a little like a game of chess, 
but it can be learned, as my classes in field crops and field 



PASTURING AND SOILING 



181 



management have fully demonstrated. The worst diffi- 
culty arises from the habit of the farm boys to see things 
only as they have been before their eyes from birth, and 
with the fathers there is even more difficulty. Instead 
of the present lack of system in crop rotation, formal 
plans may be devised, permitting the fields to be managed 
systematically. 

"The problem is simplified by a chart in which each 
year's crops are shown on each field, which has a given 
number or name. Thus, in Table I herewith, the upper 

TABLE I — FOUR-YEAR ROTATION FOR HOG PASTURAGE 





Field A 


Field B 


Field C 


Field D 


First 
year 


Wheat 
clover. 


Clover. 


Oats and 
peas; rye. 


Rye; fodder 
corn; rape. 


Second 
year. 


Clover. 


Oats and 
peas; rye. 


Rye; fodder 
corn; rape. 


Grain ; 
clover. 


Third 
year. 


Oats and 
peas; rye. 


R ye ; fodder 
corn; rape 


Grain; 

clover. 


Clover. 


Fourth 
year. 


Rye; fodder 
corn; rape. 


Grain ; 
clover. 


Clover. 


Oats and 
peas; rape. 



\ 



left-hand square or section represents Field A, and 
the word 'wheat' shows that this field is seeded to 
wheat in 1903 (the first year), clover and timothy 
being sown with the wheat. Next below is the same 
field in 1904 (the second year of the rotation), when 
there is clover pasturage ; following on the same field we 
have in 1905 oats and peas pastured off and the land 
seeded to rye; and in 1906 the rye is pastured off early, 
a crop of corn pasture is grown, and, following this, rape 
seeded with the corn makes some la^e fall feed. 



[82 



SWIM'. IN AMERICA 



"Iii the next column the same rotation is outlined on 
Field B, but the clover comes a year earlier, having been 
seeded down with grain in 1902. It will be observed that 
grain comes on Field B in 1906, with which to sow clover 
for pasture in 1907, and that each of the four fields in 
the rotation is kept in a regular course, each doing its 
part in producing each kind of crop in its turn. On Field 
C, in like manner, the same rotation prevails, each crop 
coming a year earlier than in the field before, grain 
having been grown here in 1901 and clover seeded with 
it. Again, in Field D, rye, fodder corn and rape come in 
1903, the wheat and clover having been sown in 1900. 

"The chart marks out a four-year period beginning 
with (say) 1903, the earliest year when all the changes 
preliminary to introducing the full course will have been 
completed. During the preceding three years, 1900, 



TABLE II — SEVEN-YEAR ROTATION FOR HOG PASTURAGE, 
SHOWING PRELIMINARY YEARS 





Field A 


Field B 


Field C 


Field D 


First 
year. 


Oats and 
peas; rape. 


Oats and 
peas; rye. 


Rye; fodder 
corn; rape. 


Oats; 
clover. 


Second 
j ear. 


Oats and 
peas; rye. 


Rye; fodder 

corn; rape. 


Wheat; 
clover. 


Clover. 


Third 
year. 


Rye; fodder 

corn; rape. 


Wheat; 
clover. 


Clover. 


Oats and 
peas; rye. 


Fourth 
year. 


Wheat; 
clover. 


Clover. 


Oats and 
peas; rye. 


Rye; fodder 
corn; rape. 


Fifth 

year. 


Clover. 


Oats and 
peas; rye. 


Rye; fodder 
corn; rape. 


Wheat; 
clover. 


Sixth 
year. 


Oats and 
peas; rye. 


R ye ; fodder 
corn; rape. 


Wheat; 

clover. 


Clover. 


Seventh 
\ car. 


Rye; fodder 
corn; rape. 


Wheat; 
clover. 


Clover. 


Oats and 
peas; rye. 



PASTURING AND SOILING 



133 



1901, and 1902, the fields can be gotten ready for the 
final plan. Table II shows how the crops on each field 
during the years 1900, 1901 and 1902 can be filled in, 
that the regular rotation may be fully entered upon on 
all the fields in 1903. 

TABLE III — FIVE-YEAR ROTATION FOR SUPPLYING HOG 
PASTURAGE 





Field A 


Field B 


Field C 


Field D 


Field E 


First 
year. 


Grain ; 
clover. 


Clover. 


Clover; 
corn; rye. 


Rye; corn; 
rape. 


Oats and 
peas; rape. 


Second 
year. 


Clover. 


Clover; 
corn; rye. 


Rye; corn; 
rape. 


Oats and 
peas; rape. 




Third 
year. 


Clover; 
corn; rye. 


Rye; corn; 
rape. 


Oats and 
peas; rape 


Grain ; 
clover. 


Clover. 


Fourth 
year. 


Rye; corn; 
rape. 


Oats and Peas 
rape. 


Grain; 
clover. 


Clover. 


Clover; 
corn; rye. 


Fifth 
year. 


Oats and 
peas; rape. 


Grain ; 
clover. 


Clover. 


Clover; 
corn; rye. 


Rye; coin; 
rape. 



"Ill Table III a five-year rotation supplying hog-pas- 
tures is shown ; in Table IV, a three-year rotation ; and in 
Table V, a two-year rotation. Still other arrangements 
may be devised to suit different numbers of fields and 
different crops and conditions. The effort should be 

TABLE IV— THREE-YEAR ROTATION FOR SUPPLYING HOG 
PASTURAGE 





Field A 


Field B 


Field C 


First 
year. 

Second 
year. 

Third 
year. 


Oats; 

clover. 

Clover. 

Oats and 
peas; rape 


Clover. 

Oats and 
peas; rape. 

Oats 
clover 


Oats; 

clover. 

Clover. 

Oats and 
peas; rape. 



184 SWINE IN AMERICA 

to get a good yield of really succulent pasturage through- 
out every month of the year. The crops should be so 
combined that the soil is prepared for each crop by the 
crop that precedes it. Wheat or oats may be made to 
yield some grain, while serving as a nurse crop. Rye, 
pastured off, makes a better nurse crop than wheat, if 
care be used in Pasturing it off that the clover be not 

TABLE V — TWO-YEAR ROTATION FOR HOG PASTURAGE 





Field A 


Field B 


First 
year. 

Second 
year. 


Rye; fodder corn 
rape. 

Oats and peas 

rye 


Oats and peas; 

rye. 

Rye ; fodder corn ; 
rape. 



killed out by too close or late pasturing, or by the root- 
ing of the hogs. Rye or winter wheat allowed to ma- 
ture for grain is rather a better nurse crop than spring 
wheat. 

"The farmer who will undertake to grow a succession 
of succulent crops for hog pasturage will the sooner 
learn the general principles of crop rotation as applied 
to the general fields of the farm, and will be ready to 
study out a better system of cropping his larger fields. 
Paper, pencil and ruler and the ability to make straight 
lines are the essentials in making out these plans. Be- 
sides, the area and form of the fields need to be known. 
With a rod-pole or a tape line, or even by counting the 
fence posts, the dimensions of the fields can be deter- 
mined. An accurate drawing or map of the farm is a 



PASTURING AND SOILING 1 8 



most convenient piece of information in managing the 
crops. Four-year rotation requires four fields ; a three- 
year rotation three fields; a two-year rotation two fields." 
The suggestions made by Professor Hays, while spec- 
ially adapted to the more northern latitude so far as the 
illustrations of rotations go, may be studied witn profit 
and turned to account by a hog-raiser in any part of 
the world, adapting, of course, the changes in crops to 
his individual situation. The man who will do this intel- 
ligently will gradually find, as Professor Hays has inti- 
mated, a wider knowledge of the uses of crops and in 
addition a better success. 

ROOTING AND RINGING 

Nothing is more natural than for -swine to root, but if 
the owner keeps his pastures and meadows with an even, 
unscarred surface while ranged by hogs, it must be large- 
ly by the help of rings in the hogs' noses. There is no 
quicker way to destroy the even and compact sward of 
a permanent pasture than to give the brood sows and fat- 
tening hogs the run of such a field with their noses free 
when the land is soft from continued rains. If the whole 
field is not turned they will soon work the softest parts 
into holes and a broken and uneven surface that can 
hardly be leveled again except by cultivation. Without 
doubt there is too much ringing done by some farmers, 
and this especially of the early spring pigs when they go 
out to pasture. Before turning out, some farmers think 
they must ring every pig with a nose large enough to 
hold a ring. Much of this is unnecessary, if the hogs 
are healthy and the fields in the condition they should be. 



1 86 SWINE IN AMERICA 

Fields properly drained will not be rooted as badly as 
those having wet spots. The hogs will root first in the 
wet spots and continue in these the longest. 

John M. Jamison, a well-known agricultural writer of 
Ross county, Ohio, writes most intelligently about these 
matters in the Ohio Farmer, from which the following 
is quoted: "It is generally conceded that the hog roots 
to meet the wants of his system, which he supplies by 
worms and insects found in the soil. It is also claimed 
that these wants can be met by a variety of foods and 
condiments — the various grains, roots and fruits, with a 
constant supply of wood ashes and salt. Our experience 
is in accord with this claim. 

"Many farmers ring the early spring pigs when they 
are turned onto the clover fields. We think this is un- 
necessary; we have not done it for years, and have had 
but little injury to our pastures resulting from the free 
noses. In the fall we aim to have the hogs on the market 
before the fall rains soften the fields. When not able to 
do this we lot them for a short time till sold. 

"We believe it desirable to avoid ringing whenever 
possible, for the practice must in some degree interfere 
with the thrift of the animals. The young pig is checked 
in growth for a few days till the wound heals ; the older 
hog also is off feed to some extent for a few days. When 
there is cholera in the neighborhood rings should not 
be set, by reason of the fact that disease germs find 
lodgment in the wounds, when perhaps without ringing 
the herd would escape. 

"Much can be said as to the manner of ringing and the 
kind of rings used. In many cases there is unnecessary 



PASTURING AND SOILING .187 

cruelty practiced in setting- too many rings and setting 
them too deep. There are numerous devices, patented 
and otherwise, for holding the animals. We have never 
used a cage of any kind, for the reason that we thought 
it more trouble to adjust the cage to the different sizes 
than to catch the animals with a small rope looped at one 
end and slipped into the mouth and over the nose ; to 
haze the rope hold well it should be put back of the tusks, 
otherwise it will slip off when the hog pulls back on it. 

"When we ring young hogs, we do not have much 
trouble in snaring them, but the brood sows that must 
have their rings set two or three times a year become 
quite cunning, and will dodge the loop very successfully. 
When we have this work to do we drive the hogs into a 
box stall, where there is no possibility of escape ; when 
they crowd into a corner an active person can catch them 
without much trouble. It is much easier to drive them 
into a stable or shed that they are accustomed to than to 
coax or drive them into a pen built on purpose for these 
few minutes of torture. The rope that they are caught 
with should have a short stick tied to one end for a han- 
dle to hold them with, and when the animals are large 
and strong we find it a saving of muscle when the animal 
is caught to put the rope around a post ; the animal will 
stand better when pulling at the post, that does not give. 

"In placing the rings care should be taken to set them 
firmly but not too deep ; if set so deep as to bind or pinch 
the muscles inside the ring, they will always be an annoy- 
ance to the animal. Some men take vengeance on their 
hogs, it would appear, by setting the rings as deeply as 
possible, causing all the pain they can; in such instances 



l88 SWINE IN AMERICA 

vengeance comes back with interest compounded. A ring 
should not be set in the center of the nose, as it will pull 
out much easier than if set somewhat on one side. 

''Except for old brood sows, one ring will usually be 
found sufficient; if one will answer the purpose, two only 
add to the annoyance of the animal, which is against 
thrift. The kind of a ring used has much to do with ac- 
complishing the purpose without unnecessary suffering 
or annoyance. A ring that closes with the joint in the 
nose should never be used. We remember seeing, some 
years ago, at a railroad station, a lot of hogs brought 
in for shipment. They had every appearance of being- 
out of condition, and no doubt were sold because they 
were not thriving. Every one had a single ring set in the 
center of the nose, with joint in the flesh, and every nose 
was sore — a fact that the owner had failed to observe. 

"Recently we saw a lot of thrifty young hogs, all 
having two rings in their noses. We were a little sur- 
prised, as we seldom used rings on hogs of that size, and 
expressed ourselves in that way to the owner. He replied 
that he thought they thrived better if not allowed to root. 
On this point we could hardly agree with him. Nor did 
we think two rings were necessary when one would an- 
swer the purpose. However, these were carefully set, and 
would turn in the noses, the wounds having healed as 
they always should, if the animal is to thrive. 

"It is our belief that on farms well underdrained and 
where the hogs are fed a variety ration, and have salt 
and wood ashes always by them, a great deal of the ring- 
ing can be left undone. But where hogs have only corn 
for food they are as sure to root when the ground is 






PASTURING AND SOILING 189 

soft as they are to 'wallow in the mire' when the weather 
is warm. Because the latter is a natural propensity, 
we need not accept the same as a truth as regards the 
former, for there is much to show that the farmer 
can to some extent control the natural disposition to root, 
without resorting to heroic means." 



CHAPTER X. 

Alfalfa for Swine 

No community with high-class swine prominent in its 
husbandry is poor. No community with large areas of 
alfalfa can afford to neglect swine husbandry, for its peo- 
ple possess the material for economical pork production 
equaled by no others. Those who know it best are per- 
suaded that alfalfa will grow, with varying degrees of 
thrift to be sure, in every one of the United States and in 
Canada. Hence it is not a misstatement to say, speaking 
generally, that the American farmer without alfalfa is 
so through his own fault rather than through any fault 
of location, latitude, longitude, altitude, precipitation or 
temperature. These premises being correct, it would 
seem almost self-evident that he who would rear swine 
to the best advantage should have alfalfa, and, con- 
versely, the man with alfalfa fields is provided with a 
part of an excellent equipment for profitable swine-grow- 
ing. Either interest which is a stranger to the other 
should take early opportunity for a mutual acquaintance. 

HOGS WILL EAT HAY 

In the preceding chapter it was stated that alfalfa 
is a valuable pasture or soiling crop for pigs. It is 
equally true that they will with great relish actually eat 
alfalfa hay- "A hog is not usually ranked as a hay-eat- 
ing animal, but an exception must be made as to his 
eating alfalfa hay," says 'The Book of Alfalfa."* As 

*"The Book of Alfalfa." Orange Judd Company, New York. 344 pp. 

190 






ALFALFA FOR SWINE I9I 

a pasture or soiling- crop for sows and young pigs, al- 
falfa proves a wonderfully helpful ration for milk- 
making' in the sow and for growth in the pigs. Experi- 
ments have shown that pigs make better growth when 
the dam is fed considerable alfalfa than those from 
sows fed the best of commercial rations but with no 
alfalfa. Of two sets of pigs, one fed clover, rape and 
soaked corn, and the other with access to alfalfa in lieu 
of clover and rape, those having the alfalfa seemed to 
grow the more rapidly. For brood sows it is a most 
valuable food, either as hay, a soiling crop, or as pasture. 
The litters of such sows are generally large and vigorous 
and the dams have a strong flow of nutritious milk. Al- 
falfa meal in slop may be used with profit where the hay 
is not to be obtained. It is also claimed that sows fed on 
alfalfa during pregnancy will not devour their young, 
its mineral elements seeming- to satisfy the appetite of the 
sow, while contributing- to the fetal development of 
the pigs. 

On a farm of former Governor Hoard, in Jefferson 
county, Wisconsin, all the brood sows have for several 
years been wintered on alfalfa hay of the season's 
third cutting, and their drink (skim milk from the 
dairy), without any grain until the last two weeks of 
gestation. Mr. Hoard says the object is to give the sows 
a food that will keep them in a non-feverish state and 
furnish protein sufficient to build the bodies of the forth- 
coming pigs. 

"It was a matter of experiment at first, our only guide 
being the knowledge and reason we could exercise from 



I92 SWINE IN AMERICA 

what we knew, or thought we knew, of the philosophy of 
gestation. The experiment proved to be a success from 
the first. The sows went through their work in fine con- 
dition, giving milk abundantly. The pigs came with 
splendid vitality, thus reducing our losses from early 
deaths fully 30 per cent below what they had previously 
been. The hay is fed dry and thrown into the pen on 
the feeding floor without any cutting or chaffing what- 
ever. We have sometimes thought we would try the ex- 
periment of cutting it into half-inch lengths and moisten- 
ing it. Possibly it would take less hay in this way. The 
sows keep in good flesh, fully as much so as we like." 

A Finney county (Kansas) farmer reports having 
pastured 30 pigs on one acre of alfalfa from May 1st to 
September 1st, when they weighed 100 pounds each and 
were in fine condition for fattening. Another Kansas 
farmer reports keeping 100 pigs from about the middle 
of April to September on five acres of alfalfa pasture. A 
little grain during the last two months would have gained 
him many pounds of pork. Many alfalfa raising pig- 
growers insist that their pigs can be maintained from 
May to October on alfalfa for one-half what it would 
cost for almost any other feed. 

The Utah station found that young shotes gained one- 
third pound a day on alfalfa pasture without grain. But 
the station found also that the gain was not so great in 
older hogs. A Wisconsin dairyman reported that he. 
kept nine sows all winter and spring on alfalfa hay and 
skim milk, without any grain, and raised from them 75 
pigs, all healthy and vigorous. 



ALFALFA FOR SWINE KJ3 

The Colorado station considers that a ration of three- 
fourths corn and one-fourth alfalfa hay is the hest for 
fattening hogs for market, but for young hogs not ready 
for fattening the proportions should be reversed. The 
station does not recommend grinding alfalfa hay for 
hogs, probably on the theory that the hog's time is not 
worth much at best, and he can do his own grinding. 

A VALUABLE KANSAS TEST 

The Kansas station has made a series of experiments 
of interest to feeders everywhere. It was to determine 
the value of alfalfa hay fed to fattening hogs that were 
receiving all the grain they would eat. The results are 
related here in the language of the bulletin : 

"The hogs fed in this experiment were bought of 
farmers, and averaged in weight 125 pounds each. They 
were placed in lots of ten each, in large pens, having for 
shelter some sheds open to the south. The alfalfa hay 
used was of the best quality, carefully cured. Black- 
hulled white Kafir-corn was the grain used, the hogs 
being fed all they would eat without waste. The hay 
was fed dry in forkfuls in a large flat trough. The hogs 
were given more than they could eat, and they picked 
out the leaves and finer stems, rejecting the coarser 
stems. One lot of hogs was fed Kafir-corn meal dry 
and alfalfa hay; one lot whole Kafir-corn dry; one lot 
Kafir-corn meal dry, and one lot Kafir-corn meal wet. 

"The experiment began on November 24 and lasted 
nine weeks. By that time the alfalfa-fed hogs became 
well fattened, and were marketed. We estimated that 



194 SWINE IN AMERICA 

it would require four to five weeks additional feeding, 
with ordinary weather, to get the hogs that were fed 
grain alone into good marketable condition. 

"The gains in nine weeks from the different methods 
of feeding were as follows : 

Gains per hog- 
in pounds 

Kafir-corn meal dry and alfalfa hay 90.9 

Kafir-corn whole 59.4 

Kafir-corn meal fed dry 52.4 

Kafir-corn meal fed wet 63.3 

"The gain from feeding alfalfa hay with Kafir-corn 
meal fed dry, over the meal alone fed dry, is more than 
J2> per cent. 

"The gains per bushel of feed were as follows : 

Pounds 
Kafir-corn meal dry and 7.83 pounds alfalfa hay. . 10.88 

Kafir-corn whole 8.56 

Kafir-corn meal fed dry 7.48 

Kafir-corn meal fed wet 8.09 

"Ten hogs in nine weeks were fed 656 pounds of 
alfalfa hay; and as shown above, for each 7.83 pounds 
of alfalfa hay fed with the dry Kafir-corn meal, the hogs 
gained 3.4 pounds over those having dry Kafir-corn 
meal alone — a gain of 868 pounds of pork per ton of 
alfalfa hay. These results are not due to the feeding 
value of the alfalfa alone, but also to its influence in 
aiding the hogs to better digest the Kafir-corn. The 
alfalfa hay also gave a variety to the ration, making it 
more appetizing and inducing the hogs to eat more grain. 



ALFALFA FOR SWINE T95 

The ten hogs having- grain alone ate 3,885 pounds of 
dry Kafir-corn meal, while the ten hogs having - hay and 
grain ate 4,679 pounds of the Kafir-corn meal and 656 
pounds of alfalfa hay. The hay-fed hogs ate more grain 
and gained more for each bushel eaten. 

"In a former experiment pigs were pastured through 
the summer on alfalfa with a light feeding of corn. 
After deducting the probable gain from the corn, the 
gain per acre from the alfalfa pasture was 776 pounds 
of pork. 

"These facts indicate that to produce pork most cheap- 
ly the Kansas farmer must have alfalfa pasture in sum- 
mer and alfalfa hay in winter." 

The Kansas station also found in another test that 
one acre of alfalfa produced pork worth $20.30, while 
one acre of rape produced pork worth $10.05. 

The Iowa station director estimated that one acre of 
alfalfa pasture was worth at least three acres of blue 
grass for pigs. It is claimed by Kansas farmers that an 
average acre of alfalfa will pasture 15 pigs, while some 
report having pastured 20 or more pigs per acre. Those 
who have used alfalfa as a soiling crop for pigs admit, 
however, that one acre so utilized is equal to two. if not 
three, used as pasture. 

It is argued by feeders that as many hogs may profit- 
ably be allowed with cattle that are being fattened on 
corn and alfalfa as when the cattle are fed corn alone, 
as the feeders believe in cleaning out the feed racks every 
few days and giving the left-over stems to the hogs. If 
necessary, a little corn is added to the hog ration. 



f</3 SWINE IN AMERICA 

FURTHER KANSAS TESTS 

R. J. Kinzer, animal husbandry professor at the Kan- 
sas station, writes the author in February, 1908, that an 
experiment of his covering 65 days "indicates that for 
every 12 pounds of green alfalfa fed in connection with 
corn, one additional pound of pork was produced. In 
this particular experiment it took 595 pounds of corn 
fed alone to make 100 pounds of pork, and 500 pounds 
of corn with 190 pounds of green alfalfa to produce 100 
pounds of pork, or a bushel of corn in connection with 21 
pounds of green alfalfa to produce 11.2 pounds of pork. 
From this it may be seen that the 190 pounds of fresh, 
green alfalfa was apparently the equivalent in pork 
making to the 95 pounds of corn where corn alone was 
fed, in which case, as will be noted, the average was 
slightly under six pounds of corn to each pound of pork 
produced, which would credit the 95 pounds of corn with 
a fraction less than 16 pounds of pork. On this basis, 
the 190 pounds of green alfalfa would produce also about 
16 pounds of pork, or at the rate of one pound of pork 
for each 12 pounds of alfalfa consumed. Estimating 
that an acre will yield during a season 20.000 pounds 
of green alfalfa, this experiment would show that the 
product of such an acre of alfalfa fed green to swine, 
with corn, would give something like 1.670 pounds of 
pork. While this might be literally true, the point-blank 
statement that an acre of green alfalfa would produce 
1,670 pounds of pork might at the same time be entirely 
misleading. In one test made in winter, we found that 
100 pounds of alfalfa hay saved 96 pounds of corn. 
Figuring on the basis of five pounds of corn producing 



ALFALFA FUR SWINE I97 

one pound of pork, the 96 pounds of corn would give 19 
pounds of pork. Estimating the average yield of 
alfalfa hay to be four tons per acre, it would, on this 
basis, mean 1520 pounds of pork per acre from feeding 
alfalfa hay with corn." 

A NEBRASKA TEST 

The Nebraska experiment station at Lincoln, from a 
hog- feeding test made in 1903, reported the following: 

"With the alfalfa hay worth $7 per ton, the leaves, 
containing 40 per cent more protein, would be worth 
approximately $10 per ton. The shorts cost $12.50 per 
ton delivered. The dairy department charged 15 cents 
per 100 pounds for the skim milk used. Corn was de- 
livered to the barns at 30 cents per bushel. Adding the 
usual rate of six cents per 100 pounds for grinding, the 
corn meal cost $12 per ton. At these prices each 100 
pounds of gain in the several lots cost as follows: 

Lot 1, corn alone $4.48 

Lot 2, corn and skim milk 3.97 

Lot 3, corn and shorts 3.53 

Lot 4, corn and alfalfa 3. 40 

"This experiment shows that at the market prices 
quoted and the proportions used in the experiment, skim 
milk will make corn bring four cents more per bushel, 
wheat shorts eight cents more, and alfalfa leaves nine 
cents more. Assuming that only five per cent of the 252,- 
520,173 bushels of corn produced in Nebraska this year 
is being fed to hogs as a single food, these figures would 
go to show that $1,000,000 more wealth would be added 



I98 SWINE IN AMERICA 

to the state if wheat shorts or alfalfa were substituted 
for one-fifth of the corn fed." 

FURTHER NEBRASKA TESTS 

A number of extremely interesting tests, of course not 
decisive, have been made at the experimental substation, 
at North Platte, under Supt. \Y. P. Snyder, to test the 
economy and effect of alfalfa as hay and pasture as a 
food for swine. The results of these tests have been 
fully set forth in Nebraska Bulletin No. 99. 

Experiment No. 1. — In the summer of 1904, from 
July 16 to October 22, three lots of 17 pigs each 
were run on alfalfa pasture and fed rations of corn. 
All lots were quite uniform and of equal weights. 

Lot 1 was fed ^2 pound corn daily per 100 pounds of 
weight of pigs. 

Lot 2 was fed 1^2 pounds corn daily per 100 pounds 
of weight of pigs. 

Lot 3 was fed 2^2 pounds corn daily per 100 pounds 
of weight of pigs. 

The amount of feed was corrected to conform to the 
weights at the end of each two weeks period. During 
the 14 weeks of the experiment the average daily gain 
of the pigs in Lot 1 was .28 pound; in Lot 2, .37 pound, 
and in Lot 3, .51 pound, increasing as the percentage of 
grain increased in the three lots. The amount of grain 
required to produce 100 pounds gain was, by Lot 1, 124 
pounds ; by Lot 2, 222 pounds ; and by Lot 3, 332 pounds ; 
showing that the lighter the grain ration, the less grain 
was required for 100 pounds gain. The cost of 100 
pounds gain was, in Lot 1, $0.78: in Lot 2, $1.39; and 



ALFALFA FOR SWINE I <J<) 

in Lot 3, $2.08. The cost of the grain eaten in produc- 
ing 100 pounds gain with the lot fed 2^2 per cent was 
1.30 pounds more than with the lot fed ]/z per cent and 
69 cents more than with the lot fed i l /2 per cent. The 
price received per bushel of corn eaten by Lot 1 was 
^2.84; by Lot 2, $1.38; and by Lot 3, $0.92. All these 
figures indicate that the lighter the grain ration, the 
cheaper the gain. But when we consider the proiits we 
find that the daily profit per pig was, in Lot 1, 1.3 cents; 
in Lot 2, 1.5 cents; and in Lot 3, 1.7 cents. The profit 
during the 14 weeks on each pig was, in Lot 1, $1.28; in 
Lot 2, $1.48; and in Lot 3, $1.64. The pigs receiving 
l /2 per cent did not do well enough to warrant a repeti- 
tion of the same test. They had a decidedly stunted ap- 
pearance. Lot 2 was not as thrifty as most farmers 
would demand in profitable feeders, but in later experi- 
ments 2 per cent grain on pasture has given thrifty 
growing pigs. 

Experiment No. 2. — In the summer of 1906, three 
lots of 30 pigs each were selected to test the relative 
profit in growing and fattening pigs on alfalfa, with a 
light, a medium and a full grain ration. The plan was 
to run these pigs on a different percentage of grain until 
green alfalfa was no longer available in the fall, and 
then to put all lots on - full ration, marketing each lot 
when it had reached near the average weight of 225 
pounds per hog. After the hogs were removed rom 
the alfalfa pastures, the ration was changed from corn 
to 50 per cent shelled corn and so per cent ground rye. 
As there was required a larger amount of grain to finish 
Lots 22 and 23 on the lighter rations than Lot 24 on the 



200 SWINE IN AMERICA 

full ration after the change was made in the ration, a 
larger percentage of the grain fed to those lots was rye. 
To correct this in so far as possible, the rye was figured 
at the same price per pound as corn. Figuring in this 
manner should be favorable to the hogs receiving the 
most rye, as a ration of 50 per cent ground rye and 50 
per cent corn should give larger gains per 100 pounds of 
grain than a ration entirely of corn. 

Wintry storms came much earlier than usual and 
caught the hogs in summer shelters. It required three 
weeks to provide permanent winter quarters and to get 
all lots upon a full ration. In order to present the re- 
sults clearly, the experiment has been separated here into 
three periods. Period 1 includes the time the pigs were 
on green alfalfa; Period 2, the interim between the green 
pasture and full feed, with suitable winter quarters; 
Period 3 is the finishing period when the hogs were on 
full feed. 

Period 1, from June 23 to October 20, 1906. 

Lot 22 was fed 1 pound corn per 100 pounds weight 
of pigs. 

Lot 22, was fed 2 pounds corn per 100 pounds weight 
of pigs. 

Lot 24 was fed a full ration of corn, about 3.5 per 
cent. 

The ration was shelled corn fed dry. All lots on al- 
falfa pasture. 

During the 17 weeks of the experiment, the average 
daily gain of each pig in Lot 22 was .5 pound; in Lot 23, 
.6^ pound; and in Lot 24, 1.08 pounds. The amount of 
grain required to produce 100 pounds gain was, by Lot 



ALFALFA FOR SWINE 201 

22, 132 pounds; by Lot 2$, 220 pounds; and by Lot 24, 
330 pounds. The cost of 100 pounds gain was, in Lot 
22, $0.83 ; in Lot 23, $1.38; and in Lot 24, $2.10. The 
price received per bushel of corn eaten by Lot 22 was 
$2.33; by Lot 23, $1.40; and by Lot 24, $0.91. All 
these items show that the lighter grain rations gave the 
cheaper gains. The cost of pasture is not counted. 

On the other hand, the average daily profit per pig 
was, in Lot 22, 2.3 cents ; in Lot 23, 2.6 cents; and in Lot 
24, 3.6 cents. The average profit for the 17 weeks on 
each pig was, for those in Lot 22, $2.68; in Lot 23, 
$3.10; and in Lot 24, $4.27. While Lot 24 required 
about 2 l /i times as much corn to produce 100 pounds 
gain as Lot 22 required, yet it returned nearly 1.6 times 
as much profit as Lot 22, during the time of the ex- 
periment. 

Period 2, from October 20 to November 10, 1906. 

The ration was shelled corn, soaked rye and alfalfa 
hay. During this period Lot 22 gained 190 pounds, 
eating 1,512 pounds of corn and 336 pounds of rye, and 
requiring 972 pounds grain for 100 pounds gain. There 
was a loss of $1.08 on the grain eaten. 

Lot 23 gained 300 pounds, eating 1,158 pounds corn 
and 420 pounds rye, and requiring 526 pounds grain for 
100 pounds gain. This gave a profit of $6.63 on the 
grain eaten. 

Lot 24 gained 610 pounds, eating 3,270 pounds corn 
and 574 pounds rye, requiring 630 pounds grain for roo 
pounds gain. This gave a profit of $9.51 on the grain 
eaten. 



202 SWINE IN AMERICA 



It will be noted that all gains were made with an un- 
usually large amount of grain. This was due largely tc 
the effect of storms, which came before the hogs were in 
winter quarters, and with Lot 23 was also due to too 
light a grain ration after the green alfalfa was no longer 
available. During this period rye was fed soaked but 
not ground. This also increased the cost ®f production. 

Period 3, from November 10 until ready for market. 

Lot 24 reached an average of 228 pounds on Decem- 
ber 8, 1906. Lot 2$ reached an average of 236 pounds 
on February 2, 1907. Lot 22 reached an average of 
233 pounds on February 11. 1907. 

During the fattening period, Lot 22, the pigs which 
had been grown on alfalfa and a light grain ration, re- 
quired 467 pounds of grain to produce 100 pounds gain, 
at the rate of 1.34 pounds gain daily per pig. giving a 
profit of 3.5 cents per head daily. Lot 23, the pigs that 
had been grown on a medium grain ration and alfalfa 
produced 100 pounds gain from 509 pounds grain, at 
the rate of 1.26 pounds gain daily per pig, giving a 
profit of 2.7 cents daily per pig. During a much shorter 
finishing period. Lot 24, the pigs which had been grown 
on a full grain ration and alfalfa, required 787 pounds 
grain for 100 pounds gain made at the rate of .8 pound 
gain per pig daily, giving a daily profit per pig of 1.3 
cents. With Lot 24 this was during only the last four 
weeks of the fattening period when the hogs were being 
finished for market, while with the other lots these fig- 
ures cover a much longer time. FTence the results of 
this period, taken alone, should not be regarded as com- 
parable. 






ALFALFA FOR SWIM': 203 

The pigs in Lot 22, grown on a light grain ration of 
1 per cent of their weight until they averaged 100 
pounds, and then finished on a full ration, gained for the 
entire period .83 pound each per day. They required 377 
pounds ui grain for 100 pounds gain, and gave a daily 
profit of 2.6 cents per head. Those in Lot 23, grown 
mi a medium grain ration of 2 per cent of their weight 
until reaching the average weight ot 120 pounds, and 
then finished on a full ration, gained .87 pound each per 
day. They required 391 pounds of grain per 100 pounds 
gain, returning a daily profit of 2.7 cents per pig. The 
pigs in Lot 24, grown and finished on a full grain ration, 
gained 1.13 pounds each daily. They ate 395 pounds 
of grain for each 100 pounds gain, and gave a daily 
profit of 3.4 cents per pig. 

The 30 light-grain ration pigs gave a profit of $179.40 
in 230 days, or a profit of $0.78 per day. 

The 30 medium-grain ration pigs gave a profit of 
$179.01 in 221 days, or a profit of $0.81 per day. 

The 30 full-grain ration pigs gave a profit of $168.30 
in 165 days, or a profit of $1.02 per day. 

Lot 22 was kept 65 days longer than Lot 24, and gave 
a profit of $11.10 more; or, stated in another way, by 
feeding a light grain ration instead of a heavy grain 
ration, there was received for keeping 30 hogs 65 days, 
$11.10. The interest on the money received for Lot 24 
at 8 per cent for 65 days would be $5.33. This would 
leave $S-77 for the care and labor of feeding and bed- 
ding, wear and tear on buildings and sheds, and the 
risk on 30 hogs for 65 days. Comparing Lots 23 and 
24, we find that Lot 2T, was kept 56 days longer for a 



204 SWINE IN AMERICA 

profit of $10.71. The interest on the money received 
from Lot 24 for the 56 days would have amounted to 
$4.61 at 8 per cent. This leaves $6.10 for the care and 
labor of keeping, wear and tear on sheds and risk on 30 
hogs for 56 days. 

Lot 26, of Experiment No. 3, which follows, gives a 
comparison of a still more extended feeding period, run- 
ning 259 days from July 28, 1906, to April 13, 1907, 
with a continuous light grain ration until the last 42 
days. In this lot the daily profit per pig runs slightly 
below Lot 22 and the total profit per pig slightly below 
any of the three lots with which it is compared. Had 
Lot 26 been fed to the final weight of the other three 
lots, the difference would have been still greater. 

Experiment No. 3 — Three lots of 30 pigs each were 
run in alfalfa pastures from July 28 to October 20, 1906. 

Lot 25 was fed 2 per cent corn. 

Lot 26 was fed 2 per cent grain, of which 75 per cent 
was corn and 25 per cent shorts. 

Lot 2y was fed a full ration, of which 75 per cent was 
corn and 25 per cent shorts, amounting to between 3 and 
4 per cent. 

The pigs fed corn in Lot 25 gained .1 pound more 
each per day than those fed a ration 75 per cent corn 
and 25 per cent shorts in Lot 26. The lot fed corn pro- 
duced 100 pounds gain with 23 pounds less grain than 
the lot fed the same percentage of corn and shorts. The 
daily profit per pig in Lot 25, fed corn, was 2.8 cents, 
and in Lot 26, fed corn and shorts, 2.1 cents. The 
profit per pig in 12 weeks was 56 cents more in Lot 25 
than in Lot 26. The cost of 100 pounds gain was 2,7 



ALFALFA FOR SWINE 205 

cents less in the lot fed corn. Every item of comparison 
in the results of this test is in favor of corn rather than 
corn and shorts. 

Comparing Lot 26, fed 2 per cent grain, and Lot 27 
fed a full ration amounting to between 3 per cent and 
4 per cent, we find that the daily gain per pig in Lot 
26 was .53 pound, and in Lot 27 .84 pound, and that the 
grain required to produce 100 pounds gain in Lot 26 was 
196 pounds and in Lot 27, 273 pounds. These figures 
agree with previous comparisons in emphasizing the 
fact that with the lighter grain rations there is required 
less grain to produce 100 pounds gain. The cost of 100 
pounds gain in Lot 26 was $1.45 and in Lot 27 $1.88 
The profits per day, however, are all in favor of a heavy 
ration. The daily profit per pig was .9 cent more and 
the profit per pig in 12 weeks j6 cents more in Lot 27, 
fed a full ration, than in Lot 26, fed a medium ration. 
The prices per bushel received for corn fed to Lots 26 
and 2j were $1.54 and $1.13 respectively, figuring corn 
and shorts as having the same feeding value in producing 
gains. 

Comparing the results of all pigs having grain and 
alfalfa pasture, and using the daily profit per pig as the 
unit of comparison, we find that the most profitable 
ration has been the heavy rather than the light or me- 
dium rations. The lowest daily profit per pig was 1.3 
cents from a ration of ^2 per cent corn (Lot 1) and the 
highest profit 3.6 cents from a full ration of corn (Lot 
24). The daily profits range quite closely with the per- 
centage of grain fed. The gain from the same ration 
was more rapid in 1906 than in 1904, due largely to a 



200 SWINE IN AMERICA 

thriftier condition of the pigs and possibly to the effect 
of grading up by the use of good sires. 

These experiments carry the pig from the time it 
weighs from 40 to 50 pounds until it weighs from 80 to 
170 pounds, depending on the percentage of grain fed. 
They give no indication of the cost of producing a 50- 
pound pig nor the cost of finishing the hogs for market. 

Studying the effect of a medium grain ration on the 
cost of pork, the treatment of Lot 26 furnishes interest- 
ing data. 

Lot 26, consisting of 30 pigs, was fed in Experiment 
No. 3 from July 28 to October 20, 1906. on a 2 per cent 
grain ration consisting of three-fourths corn and one- 
fourth shorts. This constituted Period 1 of Experi- 
ment No. 3. 

During Period 2, from October 20, 1906, to March 
2, 1907, they received 2 per cent shelled corn, except 
during the first 20 days of this period, when they re- 
ceived 231 pounds of shorts, which is counted as corn. 

During Period 3, from March 2 to April 13, 1907, 
they received 3 per cent shelled corn and reached a 
weight of 215 pounds, or approximately the selling 
weights of Lots 22, 2^ and 24. 

During Period 1 they ran on alfalfa pasture. Dur- 
ing Periods 2 and 3 they pastured upon a field of win- 
ter rye and received alfalfa hay. 

Experiment No. 5. — This included three tests of keep- 
ing hogs on alfalfa without grain. Lot 4 was composed 
of 14 hogs that were over a year old but light in weight 
and thin in flesh. They were grown on alfalfa, with a 
verv light grain ration. It will be noted that during 



ALFALFA FOR SWINE 



20/ 



2 1-3 months, when they received no grain, they gained 
.5 pound each per day. 

Lots 5 and 28 were made up of brood sows from 
which the pigs had been weaned for some time. These 
gave a daily gain of .43 pound and .53 pound respective- 
ly. The average of three trials, including 42 hogs, gives 
an average daily gain per hog of slightly less than half a 
pound. This by mature hogs, thin in flesh, on alfalfa 
pasture and water. 

The table herewith gives the details : 



MATURE HOGS 


ON ALFALFA WITHOUT 


GRAIN 




Lot 4 


Lot 5 


Lot 28 


Time of experiment 


June 17 to Aug. 

26, 1904 

14 

70 

168 

134 

34 

.5 


Aug. 20 to Oct. 

22, 1904 

10 

63 

221 

194 

27 

.43 


July 27 to Oct. 

20, 1906 

18 


Number of days in experiment 
Average last weight, pounds. . 
Average first weight, pounds . 

Average gain, pounds 

Average gain daily, pound.. . . 


95 
240 
190 

SO 
.53 



Experiment No. 6. — With this lot (No. 29) was an 
experiment in fattening hogs on a full ration of corn 
with alfalfa pasture. From May 20 to July 15, 1906, 
from 17 to 20 hogs, averaging about 130 pounds each, 
were fed a full ration of corn and given the run of a 
five-acre lot of alfalfa. The total weight of the hogs put 
into the field was 2,935 pounds. They ate 7,952 pounds 
of corn, and gained 1,615 pounds. This gain was at the 
rate of 1.6 pounds daily for each hog. They ate 492 
pounds of corn for each 100 pounds gained. One hun- 
dred pounds of gain cost $3.07 with corn at 35 cents 
per bushel. This left a profit of $2.43 on each 100 



208 SWINE IN AMERICA 

pounds of gain. The profit on each hog daily was 3.9 
cents. The amount received for each bushel of corn 
eaten was 62 cents. 

Experiment No. 7. — This was in fattening hogs on 
alfalfa pasture with corn. Twenty-nine shotes were 
kept in a five-acre alfalfa pasture and fed 3 pounds of 
corn daily for each 100 pounds of hogs from April 27 to 
June 8, 1906, six weeks. Their average weight on April 
27th was 185 pounds, and six weeks later 252 pounds. 
The hogs gained on an average 1.59 pounds each per 
day, or 66.9 pounds each in six weeks. They ate 387 
pounds of corn for each 100 pounds gain in weight. The 
cost of 100 pounds gain was $2.36, leaving a profit of 
$3.14 on each 100 pounds of gain. Each hog in the test 
gave a profit % of $2.10 on the six weeks' feeding, or 5 
cents daily. There were received for each bushel of corn 
eaten 79 cents. If each hog was charged 10 cents for al- 
falfa pasture the cost of 100 pounds gain would be $2.51.. 

Experiment No. 8. — This was a test of the value of 
alfalfa pasture in fattening mature hogs. Lots 20 and 
21 were made up of ten brood sows each, from which 
the pigs had been weaned. Some changes were made in 
both lots during the test. Each lot was fed for 30 days. 
Lot 20 had the run of a five-acre field of alfalfa and was 
fed 3 pounds of corn daily per 100 pounds weight of 
hogs, from June 23 to July 23, 1906. Lot 21 was kept 
in a dry lot and fed 4 pounds of corn daily per 100 
pounds weight of hogs, from July 28 to August 27, 
1906. The table shows the details: 



ALFALFA FOR SWINE 



209 



ALFALFA PASTURE VERSUS DRY LOT FOR FATTENING HOGS 
WITH CORN. EXPERIMENT BEGAN WITH LOT 20 ON 
JUNE 2$ AND WITH LOT 21 ON JULY 28, I906 



Ration . 



Number of hogs in lot 

Number of days in experiment 

Average last weight, potmds 

Average first weight, pounds 

Average gain, pounds 

Average gain daily, pounds 

Grain per ICO pounds gain, pounds 

Cost of 100 pounds gain, corn 35c per bushel 

Profit on 100 pounds gain, hogs $5. SO 100 pounds 

Profit on each hog 

Profit on each hog daily 

Price received per bushel corn 

Profit on lot 



Lot 20 



3% corn, with 
alfalfa pasture 

101 

30 



.83' 



344 

265 

79 

2. 

301 

$1,882 

3.62 

2.86 

.10 

1.02 

28.60 



Lot 21 



4% corn 
exclusively 

101 

30 
333 
260 
73 
2. 5Si 
431 
$2.69 
2.81 
2.05 
.07 
.71 
20.50 



'Two hogs were added to Lot 20 and one taken from Lot 21. This would make 
the figures seem inaccurate if not taken into consideration. 

2 If each hog in Lot 20 were charged 10 cents for alfalfa pasture the cost of 100 
pounds gain would be $2.00. 

The hogs in Lot 20, on alfalfa pasture, gained daily 
per head .28 pound more than Lot 21, confined in a dry- 
lot, and ate 130 pounds less corn for each 100 pounds 
gain. The hogs on alfalfa made gains at a cost of 81 
cents less per 100 pounds than those in a dry lot. The 
average profit on each hog in Lot 20 on a feeding period 
of 30 days was 81 cents more than on the hogs in Lot 
21. The daily profit per hog on alfalfa was 10 cents 
and per hog in a dry lot 7 cents. There was received for 
each bushel of corn fed to the hogs on alfalfa $1.02, and 
for each bushel fed to those in a dry lot yi cents. It 
required nearly 43 per cent more corn to produce 100 
pounds gain in a dry lot than when alfalfa pasture was 
supplied. 

Experiment No. 9. — Methods of feeding alfalfa with 
grain, for fattening hogs: From November 24, 1906, 



-MO 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



until February 23, 1907, six lots of 10 hogs each were 
used in an experiment to determine the advantage in 
using alfalfa with corn and with barley in fattening 
hogs. These hogs were from Lots 25 and 27 of Ex- 
periment No. 3. All lots were uniform as to condition 
and breeding and of almost equal weights. All were 
fed a full ration. All grain was ground and fed wet. 



ALFALFA WITH GRAIN FOR FATTENING HOGS. EXPERI- 
MENT BEGAN NOV. 24, I906, AND ENDED FEB. 23, 
I907 



Lot 


30 


31 


32 


33 


34 


35 




corn 


corn 
alfalfa 


corn 75% 
alfalfa 


barley 


barley 
alfalfa 


barley 75% 




alfalfa 






hay 


cut 25% 




hay 


cut 25% 




10 


10 


10 


10 


10 


10 


No. of davs in exp. . . . 


91 


91 


91 


91 


91 


91 


Av.last weight pounds 
















235 


247 


246 


228 


237 


225 


Av. first weight 
















131 


131 


131 


126 


127 


127 


Av. gain, pounds per 
















104 


116 


115 


102 


110 


98 


Av. gain dailv weight 




pounds per pig 


1.14 


1.27 


1.26 


1.12 


1.21 


1.07 


Grain per 100 pounds 
















52S 


491 


420 


573 


562 


492 


Cost of 100 pounds 




gain, corn 35 cents, 
















$3.30 


$3.07> 


$2.62' 


$3.58 


$3.51i 


$3.07' 


Profit on 100 pounds 














hogs at $5.50 


2.20 


2.43 


2.88 


1.92 


1.99 


2.43 


Profit on each pig. . . . 


2.29 


2.82 


3.31 


1.96 


2.19 


2.38 


Profit on each pig 
















.025 


.031 


.036 


.022 


.024 


.026 


Price received per 






.58 


.63 


.73 


.46 


.47 


.54 


Pounds of grain saved 














for each 100 pounds 














gain, by using al- 














falfa 





37 


108 




11 


61 






•If $5.00 per ton were charged for the alfalfa consumed, the cost of 100 pounds 
gain would be as follows: Lot 31, $3.15; Lot 32, $2.70; Lot 34, $3.59; Lot 35, $3.14. 

Lot 30 was fed corn. 

Lot ^ 1 was fed corn and alfalfa hay fed on the ground 



ALFALFA FOR SWINE 211 

Lot 32 was fed 75 per eent corn and 25 per cent 
chopped alfalfa mixed and fed in troughs. 

Lot 33 was fed barley. 

Lot 34 was fed barley and alfalfa hay fed on the 
ground. 

Lot 35 was fed 75 per cent barley and 25 per cent 
chopped alfalfa mixed and fed in troughs. 

The results of this test are given without expressing 
an opinion as to which practice is the most profitable, as 
this will depend largely on local conditions, conveniences 
for chopping alfalfa, and cost of labor. 

It will be noted that larger and quicker gains were 
secured when alfalfa was fed, except with Lot 35. and 
that 100 pounds of gain was secured with le?s grain when 
alfalfa was supplied. Where alfalfa ha} was fed un- 
cut, there was a saving of T,y pounds of grain on each 
100 pounds gain in weight of hogs, and where it was 
fed cut (chopped or chaffed), as 25 per cent of the 
ration, there was a saving of 108 pounds of grain for 
each 100 pounds gain, over corn alone, and 71 pounds 
over corn and alfalfa hay uncut. Thirty-five pounds of 
cut alfalfa saved 108 pounds of corn, and the same 
amount of uncut alfalfa saved ^y pounds of corn. 

The results from feeding barley and alfalfa in the 
manner indicated are in line with those from feeding 
corn and alfalfa, but not so much in favor of alfalfa. 
This may be due to the fact that barley contains so much 
indigestible material in the hull that when alfalfa is 
added it makes too much bulk to the food, whereas the 
bulk in the alfalfa is an advantage to the corn. There was 
about 7 per cent of the cut alfalfa wasted when fed 



212 SWINE IN AMERICA 

with corn, and about ij per cent when fed with barley. 
There was probably a much larger percentage of the 
uncut alfalfa wasted. One noticeable feature throughout 
the experiment was that the hogs not having access to 
alfalfa were much more easily put off their feed by 
heavy feeding than the other hogs and would not eat 
as large a percentage of grain as those having free access 
to alfalfa hay. 

These, as Superintendent Snyder says, are the results 
of but one test. "It is probable that a less amount of un- 
cut alfalfa would have given equally as favorable results. 
The amount stated here is only approximate, as it was 
not weighed at each feeding time, but only sufficient- 
ly often to give a fairly accurate estimate. The cut 
alfalfa was weighed accurately. It is also possible that 
less than 25 per cent of cut alfalfa would have given 
more rapid gains. It is not our intention to advocate 
feeding a ration of 25 per cent cut alfalfa and 75 per 
cent grain as the most profitable, but simply to give the 
results of this test, which is only preliminary in the 
feeding of alfalfa hay. It is probable that maximum 
profits on corn will be secured with a smaller proportion 
of alfalfa than the 25 per cent here used, and when the 
cost of cutting alfalfa hay is considered it may even be 
possible that the greatest profit to the average farmer 
will result from feeding uncut alfalfa in racks, and either 
shelled or ear corn. Much will always depend on the 
quality of the alfalfa fed, late cuttings choicely cured 
being preferable to the coarser or damaged hay." 

Experiment No. 10. — A comparison of corn, emmer 
and barley for fattening hogs: From October 24, 1905, 



ALFALFA FOR SWIM; 



213 






until January 27, 1906, 94 days, three lots of 20 hogs 
each were fed to determine the comparative value of 
corn, emmer (speltz) and barley. All had access to 
alfalfa hay. The average weight of the shotes was near 
80 pounds. 

Lot 9 was fed corn. 

Lot 1 1 was fed emmer. 

Lot 12 was fed barley. 

The same amount of grain was fed to each lot. Lot 
9 was taken as the standard and was fed 4 per cent com 
— a full ration. All grain was ground, and fed wet. 
The average daily gain per pig in Lot 9 was 1.02 pounds ; 
in Lot 11, .77 pound; and in Lot 12, .81 pound. The 
grain eaten for 100 pounds of gain was, by Lot 9, 470 
pounds of corn; by Lot 11, 618 pounds of emmer; and 



COMPARISON OF RATIONS OF CORN, EMMER AND BARLEY 
FOR FATTENING PIGS. EXPERIMENT BEGUN OCT. 
24, 1905, AND ENDED JAN. 2.J, I906 



Alfalfa hay and 

No. of pigs in lot.. 

No. of days in experiment 

Av. last weight pounds per pig 

Av. first weight pounds per pig 

Av. gain pounds per pig 

Av. nam daily, pounds per pig 

Grain per 100 pounds gain, pounds 

'Cost of 100 pounds gain, corn 35c per bushel 

emmer 25c per bushel, barley 30c per bushel 
Profit on 100 pounds gain, hogs $5.50 per 100 

pounds 

Profit on each pig 

Profit on each pig daily 

Price received for 100 pounds of grain 

Price received per bushel grain 

Profit on lot 



Lot 9 



4% corn 
20 
94 

177.7 
81.7 
96 
1.02 
470 

$2.94 

2.56 
2.46 

.026 
1.17 

.65 
49.20 



Lot 11 



emmer 
20 
94 

153. 5 
80.5 
73 
.77 
618 

$3.86 

1.64 

1.19 

.013 

.89 

.35 

23.80 



Lot 12 



barley 

20 

94 
156 

79.7 

76.2 
.81 
590 

$3.68 

1.82 

1.38 

.014 

.93 

.44 

27.60 



'If we assume that 25 per cent of the food consumed consisted of alfalfa hay 
valued at $5.00 per ton, the cost of 100 pounds gain would be as follows- Lot 9, 
$3.33; Lot 11, $4.37; Lot 12, $4.17. 



_' 14 SWINE IN AMERICA 

by Lot 12, 590 pounds of barley. The cost of 100 
pounds gain was, in Lot 9, $2.94; in Lot 11, $3.86; and 
in Lot 12, $3.68. 

Corn gave almost twice the daily profit per pig that 
enimer or barley gave. The price received per bushel of 
grain was 65 cents for corn, 35 cents for emmer, and 
44 cents for barley. One bushel of corn was equal to 
1.83 bushels of emmer or 1.45 bushels of barley. One 
bushel of barley was equal to 1.26 bushels of emmer. 
This would indicate that when corn is worth 35 cents 
per bushel, barley is worth 24 cents per bushel of 48 
pounds, and emmer 19 cents per bushel of 40 pounds for 
fattening- hogs, where each grain is fed alone and alfalfa 
hay supplied. The price per 100 pounds should also be 
observed in the table, since the difference in weight per 
bushel may deceive the reader as to the relative values 
per 100 pounds of these different grains. In these 
figures 40 pounds of emmer and 48 pounds of barley to 
the bushel are used. 

Experiment No. 11. — This was a test of corn versus 
equal parts corn and emmer and equal parts corn and 
barley for fattening pigs. Three lots of 12 pigs each 
were fed from February 3 to March 17, 1906. The 
average weight at the beginning was about 150 pounds. 
All grain was ground and fed wet. 

Lot 13 was fed corn. 

Lot 15 was fed 50 per cent corn and 50 per cent 
emmer. 

Lot 16 was fed 50 per cent corn and 50 per cent 
barley. 



ALFALFA FOR SWINE 



215 



COMPARISON OF CORN, CORN AND EMMER, AND CORN AND 
BARLEY FOR FATTENING PIGS. EXPERIMENT BEGAN 
FEBRUARY 3 AND ENDED MARCH 1 7, I906 



Ration, alfalfa hay and 

No. of pigs in lot 

No. of days in experiment 

Average last weight, pounds per pig.. 
Average first weight, pounds per pig.. 

Average gain, pounds per pig 

Average gain daily, pounds per pig.. . 

Grain per 100 pounds gain 

'Cost of 100 pounds gain, corn 35 cents, 

emmer 25c, barley 30c per bushel . . 
Profit on 100 pounds gain, hogs $5.50 

100 pounds 

Profit on each pig 

Profit on each pig daily 

Price received for 100 pounds of grain 
Price received per bushel grain eaten 



Lot 13 



com 

12 

42 
225 
160 

64.6 
1.53 
470 

$2.94 

2.56 
1.65 

.039 
1.17 

.655 



Lot 15 



corn 50% 
emmer 50% 
12 
42 
202.91 
146.25 
56.66 
1.35 
482 

$3.01 

2.49 
1.40 

.033 
1.14 

emmer. 445 
corn .655 



Lot 16 



corn 5(1"; 
baric v 50' J 
12 
42 
215.8 
155 
60.83 
1.4S 
462 

$2.89 



barley 
corn 



61 

58 

037 

19 

581 

655 



•If we assume that one-fourth of the food consumed consisted of alfalfa hay, 
valued at $5.00 per ton, the cost of 100 pounds gain would be as follows: Lot 13 
$3.33; Lot 15, $3.41; Lot 16, $3.27. 

The average daily gain per pig in Lot 13 was 1.53 
pounds; in Lot 15, 1.35 pounds; and in Lot 16, 1.45 
pounds. These are all large gains and much more 
nearly together than where emmer and barley were fed 
without corn. The grain required for 100 pounds gain 
was, by Lot 13, 470 pounds ; by Lot 15, 482 pounds; and 
by Lot 16, 462 pounds. Where emmer formed one-half 
the ration, there was required for 100 pounds gain 12 
pounds more grain than where corn formed the entire 
ration. In Experiment No. 10, where emmer formed 
the entire ration, there was required for 100 pounds gain 
148 pounds more grain than where corn formed the en- 
tire ration. When barley formed one-half the grain 
ration, there was required 8 pounds less, and where it 
formed the entire grain ration 120 pounds more grain to 



2l6 SWINE IN AMERICA 

produce ioo pounds gain than where corn formed the 
entire grain ration. This indicates that emmer and bar- 
ley give better results when fed with corn than when 
fed alone. This is also shown by comparing the price 
received per bushel for grain in the two experiments. 
In Experiment No. 10, where each kind of grain was 
fed alone, the price received per bushel was 65.5 cents 
for corn, 35.5 cents for emmer, and 44.5 cents for barley. 
In Experiment No. 11, where emmer and barley were 
fed with corn, and also where corn was fed alone, the 
price received per bushel of grain was 65.5 cents for 
corn, 44.5 cents for emmer, and 58 cents for barley. 
That is, when emmer and barley were fed with equal 
amounts of corn, there were received per bushel of 
emmer 9 cents more and per bushel of barley 13.5 cents 
more than when emmer and barley were each fed alone. 
Fifty per cent barley and 50 per cent corn gave a cheaper 
gain than corn alone, although not so much daily profit. 
In the tests discussed, where the hogs were pastured 
in alfalfa, each lot was kept in a five-acre field. Three 
crops of hay were harvested, as in other fields, though 
not so heavy. A fair estimate places the loss due to 
pasturing of hogs at half or less than half of the growth. 
This would be about \Vi tons per acre, during the sea- 
son, chargeable to the hogs, says Mr. Snyder. "Count- 
ing the value of alfalfa at $5.00 per ton in the stack, or 
$2.50 per ton before mowing, there w r ould be due from 
the hogs, for each acre run over, $3.75. With a me- 
dium grain ration 7 hogs per acre should not consume 
more than one-half of the crop. This would make the 
cost of grazing a hog on alfalfa for the season about 



ALFALFA FOR SWINE 21/ 

50 cents. To pasture mature hogs without grain would 
cost more than twice this amount. Where hogs were 
fed a heavy ration of grain, 8 head per acre did not 
damage the alfalfa more than 20 per cent. The same 
number on a light grain ration would eat and destroy 
from 50 per cent to 75 per cent of the crop. 

"The number of hogs that may be pastured profitably 
on an acre depends very largely on the amount of grain 
fed. Probably from six to eight hogs, under ordinary 
conditions, would be about the right number. This would 
allow, besides, enough alfalfa standing to make three 
fair cuttings per year. The fields should be small, rather 
than large, so that the alfalfa nearest the water and 
sheds will not be grazed too close to the ground and that 
at the further end of the field be left untouched. 

"We have not observed satisfactory results with sows 
run on alfalfa without grain during the pregnant period, 
although very little grain is necessary for pregnant sows 
which are to farrow in the fall. 

"From the results of these experiments and other tests 
it is evident that alfalfa is a great aid in pork production, 
and that when it is available there is a profit in raising 
hogs under the conditions usually existing in western 
Nebraska. We believe that there is enough alfalfa 
growing on the uplands and in the valleys in various 
parts of the West to warrant the statement that there are 
but few farms in western Nebraska on which alfalfa 
cannot be grown with much profit for hog pasture and 
winter feed. With sufficient good alfalfa, well stacked, 
mature hogs can be carried through the winter in fair 



2l8 SWINE IN AMERICA 

condition with three pounds of corn per head per day, 
and if necessary with much less grain." 

SOME CONCLUSIONS 

From the Nebraska experiments of which the fore- 
going gives the details the station authorities present the 
following as among their conclusions, considered in the 
light of their discussion. All pertain to feeding hogs 
on alfalfa pasture or when alfalfa hay is supplied under 
conditions comparable with those existing at the sub- 
station at North Platte, Neb. : 

"A light grain ration is not the most economical for 
growing pigs, unless under peculiar circumstances, when 
alfalfa is abundant, grain very high in price, and market 
conditions warrant holding the hogs. It seems probable 
that two or more pounds of corn daily per each hundred- 
weight of hogs is more profitable than a lighter ration 
(Experiments Nos. i, 2 and 3). 

"Mature hogs thin in flesh may be expected to gain 
about half a pound per head daily on alfalfa without 
grain (Experiment No. 5). 

"Mature hogs, fed corn in a dry lot while being fat- 
tened, required nearly one-half more grain to produce 
100 pounds gain, and gave a daily profit of three cents 
less per hog than similar hogs running on alfalfa pasture 
(Experiment No. 8). 

"For fattening hogs that have access to alfalfa hay, 
corn at 35 cents, barley 24 cents and emmer 19 cents per 
bushel should give about equal profits. Under these 
conditions, four bushels of barley are worth as much as 
five bushels of emmer (Experiments Nos. 10 and 11). 



ALFALFA FOR SWINE 219 

"Where barley or emmer is fed to hogs it is more 
profitable to make the ration one-half corn than to feed 
emmer or barley alone (Experiment No. 11). 

"The cost of gain is not a reliable criterion of profit. 
A cheap gain may be so slow as to be unprofitable. Time, 
labor and investment should be considered when reckon- 
ing profits. A full grain ration, though making the gain 
more costly, usually gives greater profits, because of the 
larger amount of business transacted in a given time 
with a given number of hogs (Experiments Nos. 1, 2 
and 3). 

"Alfalfa may be fed with profit to growing or fatten- 
ing hogs in almost any form so long as it does not make 
up too large a proportion of the ration. When cut 
(chopped or chaffed ) and fed as one-quarter of the ra- 
tion with ground corn it materially reduced the cost of 
gains and increased the profits." 

J. W. Robison of Butler county, Kansas, an exten- 
sive grower of swine, says: "I had 65 sows about one 
year old in 1907, of Berkshire and Poland-China blood, 
which farrowed (their first litters) in April. May and 
June, and these sows, with their pigs, were pastured in a 
16-acre alfalfa field from the middle of April to the 
middle of October — six months. Some of the sows were 
no doubt too young to give the best results as breeders. 
During the six months mentioned alfalfa and plenty of 
good water were all the sows and their pigs had as a 
diet, except, of course, that the pigs had the milk of 
their mothers, which, from appearances, was abundant. 
The pigs ran with the sows all summer and weaned 
themselves. The sows that farrowed (all but five or 



220 SWINE IN AMERICA 

six) raised an average of five pigs each. Their pigs 
came off the pasture in October weighing an average of 
approximately 85 pounds, and were but little less in 
weight than pigs of the same age on similar pasture and 
fed some corn. The sows were in good, healthy, thriv- 
ing condition at the end of the grazing season, and none 
of the 65 died while in the alfalfa. 

"On alfalfa pasture, with plenty of good water, I be- 
lieve growth can be produced more economically without 
than with grain, but if some corn is fed the quantity 
should be governed by the price of grain and time desired 
for maturity of hogs. I usually give one bushel of ear 
corn per day to each 30 sows and pigs after the pigs are 
two months old. The 16-acre pasture in which the sows 
and pigs ranged was mowed twice during the summer, 
yielding a ton of cured hay at each cutting." 

ALFALFA FOR HOGS SHOULD BE CUT EARLY 

It is especially important that alfalfa intended to be 
fed to hogs should be cut early. An experiment at the 
Kansas station showed that a ton of early cut and well- 
cured alfalfa hay, fed with grain, produced 868 pounds of 
pork, while a ton late cut and poorly cured, fed with 
grain, produced only 333 pounds. For fattening hogs it 
is well to feed about one ton of well-cured alfalfa hay 
with each 250 bushels of grain. 

Farmer's Bulletin No. 215 of the United States De- 
partment of Agriculture declares that alfalfa is an ideal 
pasture plant for hogs. "There is no danger from bloat 
and with a limited number of hogs there is practically no 
injury to the alfalfa field.. Vigorous alfalfa will support 



ALFALFA FOR SWINE 221 

15 to 25 pigs per acre. It is best to limit the num- 
ber of pigs to that which will be insufficient to keep 
down an alfalfa held. Cuttings of hay may then be 
made at intervals and the growth thus rejuvenated. On 
the average, pigs weighing 30 to 60 pounds in the spring- 
will make a gain of about 100 pounds each during the 
season. Although pigs may be grown and fattened upon 
alfalfa alone, it is best to combine the alfalfa with some 
kind of a grain ration. Alfalfa by itself is too rich in 
protein to give a balanced ration. Where pigs are pas- 
tured upon alfalfa alone they may be prepared for the 
market by feeding for a few weeks upon corn. It is still 
better, however, to feed a third to a half of a ration of 
corn or other grain during the time of pasturing." 

The great mistake made by too many who attempt to 
pasture swine on alfalfa is in overstocking. There is a 
tendency to keep within a small pasture more stock than 
it can comfortably support, with the result that the al- 
falfa plants are gnawed, trampled and rooted out, while 
the animals fail to prosper as they would under more 
rational treatment. 

One of the most extensive and successful swine raisers 
in Kansas tells the author this: "Twenty-five years of 
pasturing hogs of all ages on alfalfa has proven con- 
clusively to me that a fourth to a half grain ration, while 
they are on such pasture, will produce in them a greater 
growth per day than when in dry lots on full feeds of 
corn. Hogs will maintain a reasonable growth, but not 
fatten much, on alfalfa pasture alone; I believe it profit- 
able to feed them some grain while running on green 
alfalfa. If it is desired to full-feed hogs, they will make 



222 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



a rapid fattening growth from increasing the grain ra- 
tion while on the pasture, and with the full grain ration 
the meat will be nearly as firm as that of hogs kept in a 
dry lot, where grain alone has been fed. I find no dis- 
tinction on the market between alfalfa- fed swine and 
those purely grain-fed, and they sell price and price alike. 
The general health of the alfalfa-fed hogs is equal to 
that of those maintained on any other feed, and they 
are prolific." 

The Kansas station realized $11.90 per acre from rape 
pasture and $24.10 per acre from alfalfa pasture in 98 
days. These results were obtained in the following ex- 
periments, begun July 25 and concluded October 31 : 

Thirty pigs, averaging 52 pounds in weight, were 
divided as nearly equally as possible into three lots of ten 
each. Lot 1 was fed on a grain mixture of one-half 
shorts, one-fourth corn meal and one-fourth Kafir-corn 
meal, in a dry lot. The other two lots were fed the same 
grain ration, but one received rape pasture and the other 
alfalfa pasture in addition. Each lot was given what 
grain the hogs would eat up clean, and each had access 
to water and ashes. The weights of grain consumed 
and gains made are as follows : 



Feed 



I. No pasture 

II. Rape pasture. . 
III. Alfalfa pasture 



Grain consumed 
in pounds 



3,801 
3,244 
3,244 



Total gain 
in pounds 



1,023 
1,076 
1,078 



Grain consumed 

per 100 pounds gain 

in pounds 



371 
301 
300 



The gains of the three lots are very nearly equal. The 
dry lot consumed 557 pounds (or 70 pounds for every 



ALFALFA FOR SWINE 223 

ioo pounds of gain) more grain than the pasture lots. 
The lot on rape required one acre of pasture, while the 
alfalfa lot used a trifle less than half an acre. 

The lot without pasture required 3.71 pounds of grain 
to produce one pound of gain. Assigning the same value 
to the grain ied the hogs on rape pasture, we have 877 
pounds of pork credited to the grain and 199 pounds 
credited to the rape. At 6 cents per pound, the price at 
which hogs were selling at the close of the experiment, 
this would he a credit of $1 1.90 per acre for the rape. In 
a similar manner, the alfalfa is credited with 201 pounds 
of pork, equal to $12.05, anc ^ as there was only a half- 
acre of alfalfa, this makes a rate of $24.10 per acre. 

The cost of preparing the seed bed and seeding the 
rape was $1.80 per acre. It was seeded in the feed lots, 
on soil that would otherwise have remained idle or would 
have grown up to weeds. 

The shotes on pasture enjoyed their diet and seemed 
satisfied. Those in the dry lot apparently hankered for 
something green, and their appetites seemed unsatisfied 
without some kind of roughness. They would even nibble 
at straw, in a vain attempt to satisfy their craving. 

"The experiment," says Prof. D. H. Otis, "empha- 
sizes the superior value of alfalfa pasture. Where al- 
falfa is not available, or where variety is wanted, or it is 
desired to utilize otherwise waste land, Dwarf Essex 
rape, seeded at the rate of six to eight pounds per acre, 
any time from early spring to late summer, will furnish 
an excellent diet that is greatly relished by the hogs." 

J. E. Woodford, of Coffey county, Kansas, April 1, 
1905, placed ten choice pure-bred Poland-China brood 



224 SWINE IN AMERICA 

sows from 12 to 18 months old, that were due to farrow 
in the latter days of June, on a live-acre field of alfalfa. 
They were given no other feed than the alfalfa pastur- 
age until they had farrowed and their pigs were a week 
old. After that the sows had in addition to the alfalfa 
some bran slop until about August 20, when new corn 
was fit for feeding. He says: "The sows from the time 
they were turned on the alfalfa until the last week in 
June made a remarkable growth, besides gaining some- 
what in flesh. They did well with their pigs, reared an 
average of seven to each sow, and as sticklers they were 
a sight to see. The pigs were the most attractive bunch 
ever raised in Coffey county, as admitted by our breed- 
ing- competitors. We weighed a gilt from this lot when 
six months and five days old, and her weight of 225 
pounds was not above the average of the whole lot. In 
our lifelong experience in rearing swine we have found 
nothing as a grazing crop for them that in value ap- 
proaches alfalfa." 

F. M. Sumpter, of Sumner county, Kansas, tells the 
author he raises and markets 500 to 600 hogs annually. 
These are grown principally in his abundant alfalfa pas- 
tures, with perhaps an average of an ear of corn per 
day until their six weeks' fattening is begun, when they 
arc heavily fed with corn. The unique circumstance 
i 1 connection with his successful operations is that he 
does not stock his pastures heavily enough to prevent 
harvesting from them three cuttings of hay each season, 
averaging a ton per cutting. The advantage he claims 
for this is that the hogs have continuously a fresh, ten- 
der growth to graze on instead of the coarse, woodv 



ALFALFA FOR SWINE 225 

Stems they would have before them if no mowing was 
done, while the hay secured is as valuable as the same 
quantity from meadows not used as pasture. 

A plat of thrifty, well-established alfalfa suitably 
fenced and used for pasturing- swine of whatever age can 
scarcely fall short of being among the most profitable 
parts of any farm upon which swine husbandry is given 
attention. 

In the summer of 1907 an agent of the United States 
agricultural department interviewed "about 150 of the 
most successful swine-growers and pork-producers of 
Kansas and Oklahoma on the subject of crops used for 
feed. . . . The main pasture crops for hogs in 
this region are alfalfa, wheat, oats and rye, ranking in 
importance in the order named." 

Bulletin No. in. Part IV. of the Bureau of Plant 
Industry, sums up what was learned from the investiga- 
tions, and what it says of alfalfa is as follows: 

ALFALFA PASTURES 

"It is the testimony of 95 per cent of the farmers 
interviewed in this region that there is no better pasture 
for hogs than alfalfa, where it can be grown success- 
fully. Those who have failed with it as pasture owe 
their failure to two causes. First, the alfalfa has been 
pastured before it has become well rooted. Young ah 
falfa is too tender a plant to stand severe treatment ex- 
cept under very favorable circumstances. There are a 
few farmers who have pastured it the same year it was 
sown and the alfalfa has survived, but this was on rich, 



226 SWINE IN AMERICA 

heavy loam soil, usually creek bottom or river valley 
land, with water not far below the surface, and the season 
was very favorable. Ordinarily alfalfa should not be 
pastured until the second year, and better still, not until 
the third year if it is desired to keep the field as perma- 
nent pasture. The second cause of failure with alfalfa is 
heavy pasturing and lack of judgment in pasturing in 
unfavorable seasons. A good many farmers have sown 
a small piece of alfalfa, and then because it has grown 
rapidly and all kinds of stock are fond of it, they have 
turned all the stock on the farm on it and have wondered 
why their alfalfa was killed out. Others pasture regard- 
less of whether the ground is muddy or whether the sea- 
son is dry and hot. In either case heavy pasturing is 
very likely to cause the alfalfa to be killed out. 

"As to the amount of pasturage or the number of hogs 
alfalfa will carry per acre without injury to the crop, the 
estimates given by farmers vary considerably, depending 
on the kind of soil, the fertility of the land, and the size 
of the hogs pastured. The following, however, is a safe 
average estimate as given by conservative men who have 
had much experience. River valley and creek bottom 
land well set in alfalfa will carry from 15 to 20 head 
per acre of 50 to 125 pound hogs. Upland of fair aver- 
age fertility will support from eight to ten head of the 
same kind of hogs. There are fields that have supported 
25 head per acre all through the season for a number of 
years and are still in good condition, and there are other 
fields that will not furnish pasture for more than five 
head per acre; but these are extremes. When a field is 
used only for pasture it is better to divide it into several 



ALFALFA FOR SWINE JJ/ 

I 

lots and move the hogs from one to the other as occa- 
sion requires. 

"The length of the season during which this pasture 
is furnished also varies. Alfalfa is ready for pasture on 
the average from the middle of April in southern Okla- 
homa to the middle of May in northern Kansas. In 
many cases it will do for grazing earlier, but it is not best, 
as the young alfalfa has not the start it should have for 
heavy pasturing, nor has it the strength in the plant. 
When not pastured too early it will furnish feed at the 
rate mentioned during nearly the whole season until 
October in the north and November in the south. In 
some years the pasture season will continue a month later 
in the autumn, depending on the rainfall and the late- 
ness of cool weather. In some seasons, if the summer 
is unusually dry and hot, the pasture will become short ; 
but usually pasture for the number of hogs previously 
specified can be depended on for about seven months of 
the year in the southern limit of the territory named and 
for about five months in the northern limit. This rule 
will apply to other sections of the country in the same 
latitude as Oklahoma and Kansas. While many farmers 
pasture alfalfa fields to their full capacity, in some sec- 
tions, especially in northern Kansas, it is customary, to 
run about half as many hogs as the alfalfa fields will 
support. This practice permits the cutting of the usual 
number of crops of hay, though the yield of hay is, of 
course, reduced. 

"Alfalfa not only furnishes a great amount of pas- 
ture, but it is of a character that goes to make bone and 
muscle. It belongs to the leguminous family of plants, 



228 SWINE IN AMERICA 

as do the clovers, the cowpea, the field pea, the soy bean, 
and the vetches, and while it is furnishing this valuable 
food it is at the same time adding fertility to the land. 
Alfalfa pasture or alfalfa hay and corn are very nearly 
a balanced ration for animals, and while it is better to 
have a grain ration fed with it to hogs as well as 
other animals, yet a healthier, thriftier hog can be 
raised on alfalfa alone than on corn alone. Many 
instances are found where hogs have been raised on al- 
falfa alone. One Oklahoma farmer marketed in De- 
cember, 1905, 61 head of spring pigs eight months old 
that averaged 171 pounds. These hogs had run from 
the time they were little pigs with their mothers on 15 
acres of alfalfa without any grain. They sold on the 
market for 5^2 cents a pound. This made the cash value 
of the alfalfa pasture about $38.35 per acre. As will be 
seen, this is light pasturing, as there were only about 
four pigs per acre besides the brood sows. 

"As already stated, it is much better economy to fur- 
nish a grain ration with the pasture, as it results in better 
gains and a better product. One man estimates that 
it takes from one-half to one-third less corn on alfalfa 
pasture than on a straight grain ration to make a hog 
ready for market. Many let the hogs run on alfalfa 
until about five to six months old, by which time they 
reach a weight of 75 to 125 pounds, feeding just a little 
grain ; then they feed heavily for about two months and 
sell the hogs at eight months old weighing 200 to 225 
pounds. One farmer, who raises about a thousand 
hogs a year and who in one year sold $t 1,200 worth, 
makes a practice of growing his hogs on alfalfa pasture 



ALFALFA FOR SWINE 22<J 

until about eight months old, feeding one ear of corn per 
head daily. He then feeds heavily on corn for a month 
or two and sells at an average weight of 200 to 225 
pounds. Another man feeds all the corn and slop the 
pigs will clean up. all the while grazing them on alfalfa 
pasture, and sells at six to eight months old at weights of 
250 to 300 pounds. Another, who raises about a thou- 
sand head a year, feeds all the corn the pigs will eat, be- 
ginning shortly after weaning and continuing until the 
hogs are sold at ten to 1 1 months old, averaging about 
275 pounds. 

"Still another farmer, from weaning time (two 
months old) until eight months old, feeds the pigs noth- 
ing but dry corn on alfalfa pasture, averaging about one- 
half gallon of corn (3^2 pounds) a day per head. At the 
end of eight months he sells at an average weight of 
250 pounds. Feeding the above quantity of corn a day 
makes about 11 Va bushels per head. Figuring this at 
the average price of corn in this locality, 35 cents, and 
the price received for pork, 5^ cents, the following- 
results will show the cost of growing pork on this farm 
and the value of alfalfa pasture: 

Value of 250-pound hog, at 5^ cents $13.75 

Value of pig at weaning, 50 pounds, at $ l /i cents 2.75 

Gain from pasture and grain $1 1.00 

Cost -of nJ4 bushels of corn, at 35 cents $3-93 



Value of pasture per head pastured $7-°7 

"Now, compare these results with those of a man who 
had to depend on other pasture crops than alfalfa. He 



23O SWINE IN AMERICA 

estimates that it will take 15 bushels of corn on wheat, 
oats, and rye pasture to raise and fatten a hog so it will 
weigh 240 pounds at nine months old, besides the pasture 
and slop. At the price of corn mentioned, 35 cents a 
bushel, and with hogs at 5^ cents a pound, note the cost 
of producing pork on this farm: 

Value of 240-pound hog, at 5^ cents $13.20 

Value of pig at weaning, 50 pounds, at 5>4 cents 2.75 

Gain from pasture and grain $10.45 

Cost of 15 bushels of corn, at 35 cents $5-25 

Value of pasture per head pastured $5. 20 

"The pasture specified here will not support more than 
half as many head per acre on this farm by feeding corn 
all the time. The value of this pasture is only $5.20 per 
head, against $7.07 per head for alfalfa pasture on the 
other farm. The experiences of these men are sufficient 
to show the value of alfalfa pasture alone, and its greater 
value when grain is fed in connection, and that it is an 
important factor in economical pork production. 

ALFALFA HAY 

"While alfalfa pasture has been found to be very 
valuable for hogs, the hay as a part ration for winter is 
scarcely less important. Throughout the region referred 
to the farmers are feeding the hay to hogs in winter. 
Many feed the hay by throwing it on the ground in 
forkfuls; others have made low racks in which the hay 






ALFALFA FOR SWINE 231 

is placed, where the hogs can feed like cattle or sheep. 
The hay has been found to be especially valuable for 
brood sows before farrowing. Where it is fed during 
the winter only a small grain ration is necessary to keep 
the sows in good flesh and in healthy condition. Sows 
thus fed also farrow good litters of strong, healthy pigs. 

"To hogs alfalfa hay is usually fed dry. The leaves 
are more readily eaten than the stems, as they contain 
more of the nutritive value of the plant. For this reason 
some farmers save the last cutting of hay for the hogs 
because it is more relished. It is eaten up cleaner, as 
the stems are not so woody, and more food value is 
found in the leaves. Sometimes the hay is cut up fine, 
wet, and mixed with other feed, and sometimes it is fed 
ground, as there are now alfalfa mills scattered through- 
out the alfalfa regions. But it is very doubtful whether 
this extra expense will pay, unless it be for a ration for 
young pigs. 

"To avoid the expense of chopping, chaffing or grind- 
ing, some farmers, in order to get the hay all eaten, have 
soaked it in water and fed it. This has proved very 
satisfactory where tried. One Oklahoma farmer carried 
his hogs through a winter by feeding them alfalfa leaves 
soaked in hot water for one day and the next day shorts 
mixed with the pulp and water. He feeds much alfalfa 
hay to his hogs and is very successful with them. He puts 
the last cutting in shock as soon as wilted, and thus cures 
it without bleaching and feeds it to his hogs. Another 
farmer carried his entire herd of hogs through the win- 
ter by feeding them the pulp of alfalfa hay after soaking 
it in water overnight. He also gave them water to 






232 SWINE IN AMERICA 

drink. This was all the feed they had during the winter, 
and they were in good flesh in the spring, with smooth, 
glossy coats of hair. A Kansas farmer was feeding a 
hunch of 50 fall pigs on corn; during the winter they 
got off feed and were not thrifty. He reduced the corn 
and gave a ration of two-thirds chopped alfalfa hay and 
one-third corn meal, the two soaked together. The hogs 
began to do better, and a little later he changed the ration 
to one-third alfalfa and two-thirds corn. The results 
were very satisfactory, and the cost of feed was reduced 
from $15 a month on corn to $9 a month on alfalfa and 
corn. So alfalfa hay, as well as pasture, has a very im- 
portant use on a hog farm." 

Prof. H. R. Smith of the Nebraska station says: 
"I cannot recommend too strongly the feeding of good 
alfalfa hay to any kind of swine. It not only furnishes 
protein, or flesh-making material, which is deficient in 
corn, but it tends to offset the heavy character of a ra- 
tion consisting of corn alone. Some scatter the hay on 
the ground, but it is better to construct some sort of a 
rack through which the hogs can pull the hay without 
trampling too much under foot. If the feeder has a 
cutting machine it might be well to cut the alfalfa and 
mix it with the grain. For fattening purposes do not 
make this cut alfalfa more than one- fourth of the en- 
tire grain ration by weight, and I would be inclined to 
believe that one-fifth alfalfa would be better." 

Swine raisers in the alfalfa growing sections fre- 
quently make the claim that cholera is unknown where 
alfalfa nourishes most, and that hogs given all the alfalfa 
they will eat in a properly balanced ration, develop 



ALFALFA FOR SWINE 233 

greater vitality and ability to resist disease than would 
otherwise be the case. In commenting upon this, Henry 
Wallace gives the following as a result of investiga- 
tions made of methods of raising hogs in the Platte val- 
ley of Missouri : 

"The brood sows are kept through the winter on a 
ration of live pounds of chopped alfalfa hay and one 
pound of corn. The summer feed of sows and pigs is 
from one to one and one-half pounds of corn per day and 
as much alfalfa as they care to eat. Hogs grown in this 
way do not make as rapid gains as are made with a 
heavier corn ration, the gain being about one-sixth 
pound per day for the first 200 or 250 days, the cost 
being not far from two cents per pound, with corn at 40 
cents per bushel. 

"What particularly impressed us, however, with hogs 
grown in this way, was the tendency to differentiate in 
type from those grown under the conditions prevailing 
in Iowa and Illinois and the clover country of Kansas 
and Nebraska. These hogs are longer in the body, set 
up a little higher on their legs, partake somewhat of the 
bacon type, and unquestionably have much greater vital- 
ity and disease-resisting power. It will not be a great 
while until the term "alfalfa" hog means a different type 
from that grown east. In fact, we believe in time to 
come, when the railroads master the problem of trans- 
porting hogs without danger of contagion, that quite a 
per cent of the hogs of the country will be grown west 
of the corn belt, where alfalfa thrives better, and shipped 
east to cattle feeders and farmers who have more corn 
than hogs. These hogs, when put on a heavy corn diet, 



234 SWINE IN AMERICA 

whether on an alfalfa farm or elsewhere, make very 
rapid gains, and we believe will make better use of corn 
than hogs grown on a corn ration. In fact, we are very 
sure of this. Theoretically it can be no other way. We 
found indications too, that hogs grown on alfalfa have 
much greater power to resist cholera than those grown 
on corn and subjected to the same disease under the same 
conditions. Theoretically this should be true, and we 
believe experience will prove it." 

A SOILING TEST IN MISSOURI 

The Missouri station' (Bulletin No. 79) made a test 
covering 102 days — from July 25 to November 4 — with 
lots of six 50-pound high-grade Poland-China pigs, to 
compare the value of various forage plants, especially 
fresh rape, alfalfa, red clover and blue grass, when com- 
bined with corn, or rather corn meal, for growing and 
fattening hogs. The pigs were kept in clean pens having 
shelter from the sun, and floored with granitoid. Their 
feed and deep well water were given them morning and 
evening, and salt mixed with wood ashes and a little 
bone meal was always within reach. The green feed was 
cut and hauled to the pens fresh and all given that they 
would eat without waste. The corn meal was of me- 
dium fineness and fed wet to the consistency of a thick 
dough. Gain on the pigs given alfalfa cost $3 per hun- 
dred pounds; on those given clover, $3.25; on those 
having blue grass, $3.96. The same pigs in the first 40 
days of the same experiment had among them one lot of 
six which were fed green rape with the corn meal ration. 
In this 40 days the cost per hundred pounds of gain was 



ALFALFA FOR SWINE 235 

thus: From the pigs having rape, $3.34; clover, $2.89; 
blue grass, $3.27.; alfalfa, $2.59. 

Director Waters says: "The superiority of alfalfa 
over red clover, as shown by this experiment, means a 
difference, on the basis of a 250-pound hog, of 62>4 
cents, or about §37 on each carload of hogs, or more 
than enough to pay the freight, even if the yield of the 
two crops is to be counted the same. Of more impor- 
tance than the superiority of the feeding value itself is 
the fact that the alfalfa will yield a much larger amount 
of pasturage than will red clover, and that it will come 
on earlier and remain green later than the clover, and 
will, if kept clipped, remain green throughout the sum- 
mer and, therefore, afford a green pasture of succulent 
material which the hogs will relish most highly. It is 
believed to be possible to grow enough alfalfa for hog 
pasture at least on practically every farm in Missouri. 

"It is not safe or even desirable, however, to rely upon 
a single crop, excepting alfalfa where it is an assured 
success, to furnish pasture for hogs throughout the en- 
tire season. It is better to arrange for a succession of 
pastures from the beginning of the season until the hogs 
are ready for market, making the feed richer and more 
concentrated toward the close of the season and as we 
approach the finishing or fattening period. For this 
purpose red clover or alfalfa, cowpeas and soy beans are 
recommended." 

One of the greatest advantages of alfalfa as a hog 
pasture is the fact that it affords a fresh growth through- 
out the grazing reason. The pasture should be mowed 
at least three times each season, thus taking off all the 



236 SWINE IN AMERICA 

matured stems and giving opportunity for the sending up 
of a new, tender growth, just the quality the hog delights 
to feed on. It is this new, fresh growth that makes 
alfalfa pasture so generally preferred by the hog and so 
highly satisfactory as a flesh former. The hog wants 
fresh pasture. He does not graze like the horse, cow or 
sheep, but is best suited when he can bite off a fresh 
clover bloom or a sprig of alfalfa, and does not from 
choice like to feed on a thick, heavy-coated blue grass 
sod. He objects to moldy, wet or soured grasses, such 
as the blue grass and white clover pastures so frequently 
afford when not closely grazed. 

In justice to all, to the author no less than his readers, 
it should be stated in passing that if after what has been 
said in this chapter anyone supposes that pigs pastured 
on alfalfa or fed alfalfa hay, without other feed, grow 
fat and maintain a show condition he has been misled. 
Alfalfa, clover, grass or any other forage will not make 
swine fat, but alfalfa will cause pigs to grow and de- 
velop framework as rapidly and inexpensively as any 
other pasturage, and in most instances more rapidly. 
This volume is not intentionally advocating any one for- 
age plant or grain alone as a sufficient or satisfactory 
animal ration for fattening, or even for the most rapid 
srowth. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Succulent and Bulky Feeds 

The value of succulence is recognized by every ex- 
perienced swine feeder, and is to be taken into consid- 
eration, whether the animal is destined for breeding pur- 
poses, the pork barrel or the packing house. In the 
warmer months this is largely provided by pasturage, to 
which a preceding chapter is devoted. All succulence is 
relished by swine fed upon grain or concentrated feeds, 
to which it adds variety, pleasing as well as wholesome. 
In a broad way, any green, fresh or juicy food may be 
classed as succulent, and the term is used to comprehend 
practically all edible plants or vegetable materials that 
have not been in some way cured or preserved, and their 
juicy freshness thereby dissipated. This succulence, in 
moderation, is a desired and valuable factor at all times, 
but of less importance when forcing the fattening hog- 
to a quick finish than it is for economical growth 
or for keeping the breeding animal in good con- 
dition. Watery feeds, such as beets, have a loosening 
or relaxing effect on the flesh. They are excellent 
for the brood sow toward the time of pigging, for 
they promote an easier farrowing by overcoming the 
tense condition of the muscles that results from a 
dry grain diet. Succulence is of value for its bal- 
ancing effect against dry, concentrated feeds, for its 
general tonic or corrective qualities, and in stimulating 



238 SWINE IN AMERICA 

the appetite for more satisfactory consumption of other 
feeding stuffs. Anything which furnishes it naturally is 
of special worth when unusually dry conditions prevail, 
for at such a time it may afford the tonic needed to ward 
off sickness to which hogs subsisted almost entirely on 
dry or concentrated feeds are liable. 

BULKY FEEDS 

The hog requires but a limited quantity of bulky food, 
and that mainly to aid in the easier or more thorough 
digestion of concentrated foods of a fat-making nature, 
usually furnished dry. This bulk should be of a pala- 
table, succulent character, such for example as is typical 
of sugar beets and pumpkins, which afford appetizing 
variety along with an appreciable degree of nutrition. 
The fact should not be lost sight of, however, that the 
mistake of giving the hog too much bulk is more prob- 
able than would be the case with larger animals. An 
excess in this direction is liable to enlarge the stomach or 
intestines at the expense of other desirable growth. 

USE OF ROOTS 

Roots are mainly desirable because of their stored suc- 
culence, available in winter, when otherwise difficult to 
obtain. Their utilization has not been so general in tli2 
United States as abroad and in Canada, but of late years 
they have increased in favor, and their place in feeding, 
especially in the corn belt of America, is being better 
recognized. Sugar beets particularly are in favor, prob- 



SUCCULENT AND BULKY FEEDS 



239 



ably as a result, in part at least, of the numerous experi- 
ments made primarily with a view to encouraging the es- 
tablishment of sugar factories, in connection with nearly 
all of which some beets were fed to hogs or other stock. 
The mangel-wurzel, rutabaga, turnip and carrot are also 
used. 

Experiments have been conducted to register the value 
of roots as aids to the digestion and assimilation of food 
as well as to discover the nutrients they supply. The tend- 
ency has been to give the greatest credit to their value 
as accessories, although in discussing root crops in "Feeds 
and Feeding" Prof. Henry says, "the digestible nutrients 
yielded by each crop are the true measure of its value 
to the farmer." Taking yields reported at the Ontario 
agricultural college (Report of 1896) from tests cover- 
ing five or six years, Prof. Henry has reduced root crops 
to an estimated yield of digestible nutrients as shown in 
the following: 



ESTIMATED YIELD OF DIGESTIBLE NUTRIENTS PER ACRE IN 
ROOT CROPS 



Yield per acre. 


Dry 
matter. 


Pro- 
tein. 


Carbohy- 
drates. 


Ether 
extract. 




Pounds 
6,384 
4,368 
4,370 
4,560 
4,590 


Pounds 
448 
528 
460 
400 
374 


Pounds 
4,368 
2,592 

3,312 
3,240 
3,468 


Pounds 
112 




48 




92 




80 

34 







The mangel contains less dry matter than other roots, 
but is in favor because of its heavy yield and its less cost 
of harvesting - , which is generally estimated to be about 

Comparative experiments were 



half that of sugar beets 



2.|0 SWINE IN AMERICA 

made in 1890 by the New York (Cornell) station (Bul- 
letin No. 25 ) with sugar beets and mangels as grown for 
live stock. The beets and mangels were given the same 
care, cultivation and fertilizing that would ordinarily be 
given a farmer's root crop. Test weights gave a yield 
of 23.1 tons of sugar beets per acre and 31.4 tons for 
mangels. The yield of dry matter per acre was found 
about equal, so the conclusion reached was that "the 
difficulty in starting and in harvesting the sugar beets 
becomes the main difference in raising the two crops. It 
requires fully twice the labor to harvest the sugar beets, 
so that it would seem clear that, if roots are to be raised 
for stock, so far as yield per acre is concerned, mangels 
are much to be preferred to sugar beets." 

COMPARATIVE VALUE OF ROOTS 

The comparative feeding value of roots most com- 
monly used for swine was tested in 1901 at the Central 
experimental farm of Canada. Four lots of four pigs 
each were fed respectively on turnips, mangels and 
sugar beets, the beets fed to one lot being grown for for- 
age and to another lot beets as grown for sugar produc- 
tion. Each pig was given all the pulped roots he would 
eat and in addition daily three pounds of skim milk and 
a meal mixture of one-half corn and one-sixth part each 
of oats, barley and peas. The results of the experiment 
(Annual report of Canadian experimental farms, 1901) 
are shown on the next page. 

T11 arriving at costs of the gain the meal was valued 
at <;o cents and the skim milk at 20 cents per 100 pounds, 






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242 SWINE IN AMERICA 

with the following prices for roots : Turnips and man- 
gels, 10 cents, and sugar beets, both kinds, 15 cents per 
hundredweight. The results on the carcasses were gen- 
erally favorable. Commenting on this, Rommel says 
(Bulletin No. 47, Part II, Bureau of Animal Industry, 
U. S. Department of Agriculture) : "The results are re- 
markably low in feed requirements and would seem to 
show that roots and milk may be more advantageously 
combined than pasture and milk." 

ROOTS AND GRAIN 

Experiments at the Indiana, Utah and Montana sta- 
tions, and at the Ontario agricultural college in feeding 
roots against grain, to swine, have been summarized com- 
paratively in the bulletin cited above, as shown in the 
table on page 243. 

In the Indiana experiments (Bulletins Nos. 79 and 82) 
the grain ration was given as slop and was composed of 
one part corn meal and two parts shorts, with water, salt 
and ashes available. Mangels were used in the first 
experiment, and in the second sugar beets were sliced 
and fed in the slop. Conclusions were summarized as 
follows : "Roots in some form are a desirable food for 
pigs in winter, as an addition to the grain ration, in pro- 
moting healthful activity of the digestive organs and 
in acting as an appetizer. Sugar beets, artichokes or 
carrots would no doubt serve this purpose better than 
mangels. They are more expensive in view of greater 
cost of production, but this difference is not important. 
They, however, contain enough more sugar to make 











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243 



?44 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



them somewhat more relished by the pigs than are the 
mangels. . . . Mangels are not so desirable a food 
as sugar beets, as they are less nutritions, sugary and 
tender. The great advantage in growing mangels lies 
in the large yield per acre. Sugar beets, however, are 
relished by all farm animals, and to a greater extent than 
are mangels, especially by pigs. ... If the brood sows 
had been fed with sugar beets it would have been to 
their material advantage." 

In experiments reported in the following table from 
the Ontario agricultural college (Annual Report 1901) 
the grain ration in the first comparison was barley and 
middlings, and corn and middlings in the second; for 
roots all lots were given pulped mangels: 



TABLE SHOWING GAINS AND DRY MATTER CONSUMED PER 
IOO POUNDS OF GAIN 



Groups. 


Total weight 
October 23. 


Total weight 
May 7. 


Average daily 
gain per hog. 


Dry matter 
consumed per 
100 lbs. gain. 




Pounds 


Pounds 


Pounds 


Pounds 


Experiment A 
Group 1, -1 hogs; barley 

and middlings 

Group 2, 4 hogs; barley, 

middlings and roots. 


169 
168 


670 
840 


.639 
.857 


439.22 
380.15 


Experiment R 
Group 3, 5 hogs; com and 
middlings 


276 


040 


.677 


424.55 


Group 4, 5 hogs ; corn mid- 


276 


1,020 


.757 


403.74 



The main points brought out by these tests were : "The 
feeding of equal weights of roots and meal gave more 
rapid and more economical gains than the feeding of 
meal alone. The hogs fed roots produced bacon of 




M 

a 

3 

—i 

i 

X 

M 

z 
J 

5 

50 



SUCCULENT AND BULKY FEEDS J45 

quality superior to those which were not fed roots. 
There was a marked difference, however, between the 
hogs which received roots and those which did not in each 
experiment. Those which were fed roots were much 
more growthy and thrifty looking than the others, and 
showed less tendency to become fat. In fact, it was 
found necessary to reduce the proportion of roots toward 
the close of the experiments in order to get these hogs 
fat enough. It is possible, therefore, that the roots had 
a beneficial effect upon the digestive organs of the ani- 
mals, causing them to digest their food better than did 
the others, for there is little doubt that hogs confined 
closely in pens are likely to suffer from indigestion." 

In the Montana experiments oats, barley and dam- 
aged wheat were furnished with and without sugar beets, 
and comment was made on the results obtained, thus : 
"We have found that pigs soon become very fond of 
sugar beets ; that beets can be used to good advantage 
raw; and that there is no advantage to be derived from 
cooking them. They should not, however, be used in 
larger quantities than from two to 2]/z pounds per day 
to a 150-pound animal. If given too freely they have 
a too laxative effect and cause some loss of the grain. 
They have given us good results when fed in larger 
quantities to store (lean) hogs receiving very little grain 
during the winter. In this way store hogs can be win- 
tered very cheaply and they will come out in good 
thrifty condition. Their value extends also to the brood 
sow ; we have for several years made sugar beets a part 
of her ration. They have a tendency to prevent a torpid 



24b SWINE IN AMERICA 

condition of the digestive tract, render parturition eas- 
ier, increase the flow of milk and aid in the production 
of a more vigorous offspring. It is necessary, however, 
to observe the precaution not to give beets except in 
small quantities to the sow during the first week after 
farrowing. They are liable to affect the milk, causing 
bowel trouble among the young pigs. 

"What has been said of sugar beets will apply in very 
much the same way to mangels and carrots. The food 
value of all three for swine is very much the same. It 
can be said of carrots, however, that they are very much 
more expensive than either sugar beets or mangels, ow- 
ing to the labor involved in giving them the proper culti- 
vation and the difficulty found in harvesting. Under 
conditions frequently found in Montana the sugar beet 
is preferable to the mangel for the reason that it keeps 
much better during the winter season. The mangel, 
which projects above the ground with a sparse top for a 
covering, is frequently touched by an early frost, and 
then will not keep well. As the sugar beet makes its 
growth within the ground and the crown is well covered 
with leaves, earlv frosts, even severe ones, will not do 
any damage. During the last two years we have had 
sugar beets to feed as late as the middle of June. The 
argument against the use of roots is that they are ex- 
pensive to raise. On the average farm only a very 
small area is required to produce an abundance of pig 
feed. One acre will produce, at a fair average, not less 
than ten to 12 tons of beets, and these, if properly treat- 
ed, will not cost more than $25 per acre. They are in 
reality one of the most economical foods." 



SUCCULENT AND BULKY FEEDS ^4/ 

Results from the Montana experiments would ap- 
pear to account for those of an unsatisfactory nature 
from the use of sugar beets in the Indiana trials, in which 
roots may have been furnished too abundantly. The 
net profit per head in the experiments at the Montana 
station was $2.28 when sugar beets were combined with 
grain, against $1.80 when grain alone was used. Fur- 
ther experiments at the Montana station (Bulletin No. 
37) returned a very striking financial gain from the use 
of sugar beets, which was reported as follows: "In the 
spring of 1902 two lots of four pigs each were fed for 
50 days, one on an exclusive grain ration, the other 
receiving both grain and sugar beets, with the following 
results: The four hogs receiving grain made an in- 
crease of 316 pounds, or 79 pounds each, a daily gain 
of 1.58 pounds. The cost per pound of increase on this 
lot was 4.6 cents. The four hogs receiving grain and 
sugar beets made an increase of 328 pounds, or 82 
pounds each, a daily average of 1.64 pounds. The cost 
was 3.8 cents per pound. The former lot received a 
heavy grain ration of 9. 11 pounds each per day. The 
latter consumed 6.65 pounds of grain and 4.58 pounds 
of sugar beets per head daily. The financial outcome 
of this test resulted in a net profit of $14.12, or 33 per 
cent on the investment in 50 days." 

ROOTS AND BACON 

It is evident that roots have a special value in Ameri- 
can territory outside the corn belt, and in these sections 
the feeding material available tends to encourage swine 
raising for bacon production. In the northern and west- 



24S SVV1JSIE IN AMERICA 

ern sections the sugar beet industry has led to more ex- 
tensive use of that root for all classes of stock, and in 
some sections beets are freely used where other roots 
were little known in feeding. Roots make an acceptable 
combination with wheat, barley or any other grain than 
corn, and their effect upon bacon production has been 
found beneficial. 

Experiments corroborating this have been extensively 
conducted in Canada, and in the compilation on "Bacon 
Production" by Professor G. E. Day, published by the 
Ontario Department of Agriculture (Bulletin No. 129, 
Ontario agricultural college), the influence of roots upon 
the firmness of bacon is pronounced extremely satisfac- 
tory. The bulletin gives the following summary of re- 
sults from feeding with roots for bacon production: 

"Hogs seem to prefer sugar beets to almost any other 
roots. Some difference of opinion exists as to the quan- 
tity of roots that may be fed with profit to hogs. They 
should be given in limited quantity to small pigs, but 
pigs weighing over 100 pounds live weight will, in some 
cases, take five or six times as much roots as meal, by 
weight, and make very good gains. We have obtained 
our best results, however, from feeding equal parts by 
weight of roots and meal. The proportion of roots may 
be increased considerably, if thought advisable, as the 
hogs advance in weight. In all our experiments we have 
obtained very satisfactory results from root feeding, so 
far as firmness of bacon is concerned. Though not quite 
so high in feeding value for hogs, mangels compare very 
favorably with sugar beets. If the hogs have not been 
fed sugar beets they will eat mangels very readily. Their 



SUCCULENT AND BULKY FEEDS 249 

influence upon the firmness of bacon is the same as that 
of sugar beets. Hogs are not so fond of turnips as of 
mangels and sugar beets, but if they do not know the 
taste of either mangels or sugar beets, they will eat a 
considerable quantity of turnips. Turnips are made 
more palatable by cooking, though it is doubtful whether 
cooking increases their actual feeding value, which is very 
similar to that of mangels. We have found the feeding 
of turnips along with a meal ration to give a firmer 
quality of bacon than when meal is fed alone. Much 
of the value of roots consists in their action upon the 
general health of the animal. They tend to prevent in- 
digestion and constipation, and promote general thrift. 
The results of our experiments and of those conducted 
by other stations indicate that from six to eight pounds 
of sugar beets, mangels or turnips, are equivalent in feed- 
ing value to one pound of mixed meal." 

SUGAR BEETS IN THE CORN BELT 

The experience generally of successful hog raisers in 
the corn belt has given a favorable place to the sugar 
beet. "We raise sugar beets largely, and consider them 
of great benefit," says Fred H. Rankin of Illinois. "They 
come nearest to supplying the place of pasture in winter 
of anything we can find. No similar area on the farm 
ever produced so profitable a crop as did a patch of 
sugar beets. We used them whole, and as pastures were 
short in the fall, we pulled and fed many of the beets, 
and it was surprising with what avidity the stock ate 
them, particularly the tops. Frost does not in any wise 



25O SWINE IN AMERICA 

injure the tops and we did not dig and pit our crop until 
late in November. The last beets taken out of the pit 
in the spring were as fresh and crisp as when placed 
there. There is no stock that needs succulence in food 
more than swine or that will pay better for supplying it, 
especially the breeding herd." 

"I have fattened my own hogs for family use for the 
last three years on sugar beets," says I. L. Diesem of 
Kansas ; "and I did not give them any grain until about 
two weeks before slaughtering, when I fed them corn, 
barley and oats. Their meat was as firm as if they had 
been corn fed. The flavor of our sausage, at least, is 
just the same as when we feed corn." 

A phase of root feeding in winter which is worth con- 
sideration has been advanced by A. W. Brayton of Illi- 
nois, who says : "Stock fed entirely upon dry feed require 
a great deal of water, and if the weather is cold and the 
water near the freezing point they will not drink as much 
as their systems demand, and the food sometimes be- 
comes impacted, or passes only partly digested, causing 
injury and disease; or, at times they will drink more 
than is necessary, thereby washing the food out of the 
stomach before half the nutriment is extracted. Taken 
in large quantities ice-cold water reduces the animal tem- 
perature, and the beast stands around for hours humped 
and shivering with cold. If given a ration of succulent 
food, which is largely juices, the liquid necessary is at 
least partly supplied, a little at a time and in its most 
acceptable form." 



SUCCULENT AND BULKY FEEDS 25 1 

THE DANISH EXPERIMENTS 

Elaborate swine feeding experiments involving nu- 
merous problems have been conducted by the Danish 
experiment station at Copenhagen. These experiments 
were extensive and on the co-operative plan ; the animals 
were kept upon estates and fed in the ordinary way by 
farmers, but the tests were arranged and results observed 
by officials of the experiment station. The large num- 
ber of hogs, in some series practically a thousand, gave 
a certainty to the averages which made the experiments 
of unusual value. The author of "Feeds and Feeding" 
painstakingly worked over the 39 periodical reports on 
the Danish experiments which had been issued prior to 
the publication of his work, and one of its chapters is 
devoted to results obtained by the Copenhagen station. 
In referring to the extensive Danish trials in root feed- 
ing, Professor Henry has said : 

"In the Danish experiments such roots as mangels 
and other beets, turnips and carrots, were usually fed 
uncooked. In one series of experiments it was found 
that from eight to ten pounds of mangels equaled one 
pound of grain. The quality of pork from pigs given 
mangels and other roots was satisfactory. Even when 
one-fourth of the nutriment furnished consisted of roots 
the pork was still of good quality. In one group of ex- 
periments in which 204 pigs were used, four kinds of 
roots were fed in addition to dairy refuse and grain. 
The conclusions were that yYi pounds of Eckendorf 
mangels, 6 l /> pounds of Elvetham mangels, five pounds 
of fodder beets and four pounds of sugar beets were 



-D- 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



each equal to one pound of barley. The quantity of dry 
matter in each of these allowances of beets is practically 
the same. It is apparent, therefore, that the value of 
beets as food for swine depends upon the quantity of dry 
matter they contain rather than their total weight. It 
was concluded from these experiments that 40 per cent 
of the ration of the pig may be advantageously made up 
of roots." 

"In another series of experiments nearly 900 pigs were 
used in root-feeding trials. Carrots were found to have 
no higher value than mangels, dry matter being taken 
into account. The common field turnip is over 90 per 
cent water. Since grain feeds are much higher in Den- 
mark than in America, it is natural that root crops gen- 
erally should be more highly appreciated by stockmen 
there than in this country. On the other hand, even if 
the grains are cheap with us, we should not insist that 
growing pigs and breeding swine should be kept upon 
these concentrated materials alone. Such material lacks 
bulk, and when fed in reasonable quantity to growing 
and breeding stock the stomach and intestines are all the 
time in a condition of collapse. Volume is an essential 
constituent of feed and, in a way, it is as important as 
nutriment. Roots furnish this to swine in the best form 
possible." 

IRISH POTATOES 

Potatoes do not have as high feeding value as roots, 
but are often more readily available. Results from feed- 
ing with raw potatoes are not generally satisfactory, but 
when cooked so as to be mealy and not too soggy the 



SUCCULENT AND BULKY FEEDS 253 

potatoes are relished. A Canadian authority reports 
(Bulletin No. 129, Ontario agricultural college) that 
"their influence upon the quality of bacon is beneficial." 
It is ordinarily estimated that four or 4^ pounds of po- 
tatoes, when cooked and used in connection with corn, 
other grain or meal, have a value equal to one pound of 
grain alone. Potatoes alone cannot be used to advantage 
as a feed, nor can they be eaten by hogs in any great 
quantity. They are best relished when cooked and mixed 
with meal, making of the mixture a rather heavy mush. 
Skim milk and potatoes go well together. (See experi- 
ments of Central experimental farm given in the table in 
Chapter 17.) 

SWEET POTATOES 

Sweet potatoes have been fed to hogs with some de- 
gree of success, particularly in the southern states, where 
they have been used both raw and cooked, and the 
hogs have also been allowed to harvest them. Attempts 
to maintain hogs on them have proved unprofitable, but 
their value has been apparent when properly balancing 
a ration. 

The South Carolina experiment station (Bulletin No. 
52) fed one lot of hogs, averaging in weight 162 pounds 
each, on sweet potatoes alone, for 43 days, and another 
lot, averaging 156 pounds each, for the same period on 
corn. The average total gain per hog was 26.6 pounds 
on sweet potatoes and 50.6 pounds on corn from an 
average consumption of 863.7 pounds of sweet potatoes 
and 305 pounds of corn, thus requiring to produce one 
pound of pork 32.47 pounds of sweet potatoes or 6.02 



254 SWINE IN AMERICA 

pounds of corn. The yields per acre at the South Caro- 
lina station were 200 bushels of sweet potatoes and 15 
bushels of corn, and pork was worth five cents per 
pound. At those figures, for pork production, corn was 
worth $6.97 per acre and sweet potatoes $18.47 P er acre. 

The Maryland station found (Bulletin No. 63) feed- 
ing an exclusive sweet potato ration to rather ma- 
ture hogs "not to be economical or desirable," but when 
sweet potato strings were made part of a ration with 
gluten meal and skim milk they were estimated to have 
a feeding value of about 40 cents per 100 pounds. 

The Alabama station has found (Bulletin No. 122) 
that shotes on an average will make one pound of growth 
in consuming 3.13 pounds of grain, with raw sweet po- 
tatoes in addition, and the conclusion was reached (Bul- 
letin No. 93 ) that "a profit is possible only by saving 
the expense of harvesting, which is the heaviest single 
item of expense in sweet-potato culture. If the hogs do 
the rooting, the sweet potato is doubtless a cheaper food 
than corn on some sandy soils that yield ten to 15 times 
as many bushels of sweet potatoes as of corn. The vines 
are also valuable as food for hogs. The value of sweet 
potatoes will be enhanced by feeding with them a liberal 
allowance of cowpeas or peanuts, which supply the ni- 
trogenous material in which the sweet potato is defi- 
cient." 

The Florida station (Bulletin No. 55) compared the 
feeding of native shotes on rations of corn and wheat 
middlings against wheat middlings and sweet potatoes. 
The animals were common "Razor-Backs," which had 



SUCCULENT AND BULKY FEEDS 



255 



never been confined prior to the experiments, and the re- 
sults obtained would doubtless have been better with im- 
proved stock. The nutritive ratio was practically the 
same in each ration. There were four shotes in each 
lot, and they were fed in open troughs, morning and 
night, supplied with running water and kept in a large 
pen without shelter. They were fed for a preliminary 
period of 20 days before beginning the experiment, in 
order to accustom them to feeding in confinement. Re- 
sults obtained are summed up and compared thus : 

TARLE COMPARING RESULTS IN FEEDING SWEET POTATOES 
AND CORN, IN RATIONS WITH MIDDLINGS 



Ration. 


o 

^ as 

*g 10 M 

M .g 
'53 3 M 


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,9 ° 




Pounds 
452 


Pounds 
160.0 


35.39 


Pounds 
406.80 

610.20 


1:5.9 


$9.13 




Wheat middl'gs (3 parts) 


5.7 


Sweet potatoes (1 part) 
Wheat middl'gs (1 part) 


406 


126.5 


31.16 


639.45 

639.51 


1:5.8 


10.02 


7.9 



ARTICHOKES 

The "Jerusalem" artichoke, a tuber belonging to the 
sunflower family, is in some sections, mostly outside the 
corn belt, considerably esteemed as a wholesome and in- 
expensive fall, winter and spring food for swine. It is 
estimated as having approximately the same feeding 
value .tts potatoes, or a little more. It will grow where 
the potaio does not thrive, and is nearly always harvested 



256 SWINE IN AMERICA 

by the hogs. Its worth, cost considered, has not been 
fully appreciated, perhaps because of the prevalent idea 
that, once established in the soil, its eradication is very 
difficult, but this is not necessarily a fact. It grows from 
the eyes of the tuber, which may be planted whole, or 
cut. If planted in the late fall the whole tuber is used. 
In spring the pieces will do. Plant in rows about the 
same as potatoes, so that cultivation may be given. As 
the plant grows up several feet high, the rows should be 
about three feet apart and the plants some 18 inches in 
the rows. Plant as deep as potatoes, and cultivate about 
the same. The plot should be near the hog lots and 
fenced hog tight. In the fall, when the tubers are 
grown, the hogs will do the harvesting. 

By preventing the hogs from securing all the tubers 
this crop can be grown successively for several years 
without replanting. In the spring the cultivator is start- 
ed after the new plants show, and everything torn out 
except the plants in the rows. To destroy the crop let 
the hogs root out every tuber if possible. When any 
stray plants appear, plowing and planting to corn or some 
cultivated crop makes their eradication comparatively 
easy. 

In tests at the Oregon station hogs which were given 
the run of an artichoke field, and were also given a par- 
tial feed of grain, made a gain of one pound in weight 
for each 3.1 pounds of grain fed, while it usually takes 
about five pounds of grain to make one pound of gain. 
In tests made at the Missouri agricultural college, one 
bushel of artichokes and three bushels of corn were 
found superior to four bushels of corn, and other tests 



SUCCULENT AND BULKY FEEDS 



257 



have given similar results. The inexpensive gain in 
weight is not the only advantage in using artichokes, as 
the better health consequent on adding to the ration this 
fresh and succulent feed is a matter of great importance, 
especially in animals which are kept for breeding. The 
best soil for the crop is similar to that best for Irish po- 





TUBERS AND MATURE ARTICHOKE PLANT. 



tatoes. It should be rich, mellow and well drained. On 
dry, hard clay the yield is always small. 

South Carolina experiment station Bulletin No. 128 
says : "During November and December, when March 
shotes ought to be fitted for the block, they should be 
turned onto patches of artichokes and Spanish peanuts, 
which make an excellent combination of feeds, that, 



258 SWINE IN AMERICA 

moreover, have the advantage of enabling the hogs to do 
the harvesting. Sweet potatoes and chnfas may be used 
as substitutes for artichokes ; on account of the watery- 
nature of potatoes and artichokes they should never be 
used alone, but in conjunction with more concentrated 
feeds, like peanuts, peas, corn and grains." In Canada 
artichokes seem to find favor. The pamphlet on bacon 
production issued by the Ontario agricultural college 
(Bulletin No. 129) says: "In some sections this crop is 
very popular as a hog food. It is suitable, however, only 
for somewhat light, sandy soils. Artichokes may be 
planted in the late fall or early spring, in rows 21 to 24 
inches apart, and from 12 to 18 inches apart in the rows. 
They are usually ready for feed about September 15. 
Artichokes have a little higher feeding value than pota- 
toes, and hogs are very fond of them." In Oregon the 
yield was found by the experiment station to be 740 
bushels per acre. An experiment there (Bulletin No. 54) 
with artichokes used with a small quantity of chopped 
(coarsely ground) wheat and oats resulted in an average 
daily gain of .81 pound each by swine weighing from 
117 to 215 pounds. "The pigs were healthy and vigor- 
ous during the feeding period," says the report. "It does 
not cost much to raise a small area of artichokes. A 
small acreage might be profitably employed by any 
farmer who expects to make his own bacon or supply 
the market with a superior grade of pork products. 
Artichokes do best in rich, loose soil, where there is an 
abundance of decayed vegetable matter." 

At the Central experimental farm of Canada (Annual 
Report of Experimental Farms, 1900) one-sixteenth of 



SUCCULENT AND BULKY LEEDS 



-259 



an acre in artichokes returned a net profit in pork of 
$9.76. The pigs harvested the artichokes while the 
tubers were immature, and were given in addition during 
the 21 days of the experiment 189 pounds of meal, con- 
sisting of one-half corn and one-sixth each of oats, peas 
and barley, making a daily grain ration of \ l /i pounds 
per pig. In commenting upon the fondness for ar- 
tichokes shown by the pigs, Professor Grisdale said : "I 
have never seen pigs eat anything with more gusto." 
The favorable daily gain is interesting, especially in view 
of the small quantity of grain used. The gains made 
by the pigs are shown in the following table: 



CAINS MADE BY PIGS ON ARTICHOKES AND GRAIN 



No. 

of the 

Pig. 


Weight 
Oct. 3. 


Weight 
Oct. 24. 


Gain. 


Daily 
rate of 
gain. 


No. 
of the 
Pig. 


Weight 
Oct. 3. 


Weight 
Oct. 24. 


Gain. 


Daily 

rate of 
gain. 


263... 
264... 
267... 
26 8... 


Pounds 
100 
105 
106 
111 


Pounds 
131 
141 
138 
141 


Pounds 
31 
36 
32 
30 


Pounds 
1.47 
1.71 
1.52 
1.42 


269 

271 

Total 


Pounds 
109 
95 


Pounds 
145 
127 


Pounds 
36 
32 


Pounds 
1.71 
1.52 


626 


823 


197 


1.57 
Aver'ge 



The tops of the Jerusalem artichoke are seldom, if 
ever, eaten by swine, but are considered excellent fodder 
for horses or cattle. A comparatively small planting is 
ample for a number of hogs. 

CHUFAS AND THE CASSAVA 

Chufas are used to some extent in the southern states, 
particularly in winter, with artichokes. The Alabama 
experiment station (Bulletin No. 122) obtained one 
pound of growth for 1.92 pounds of grain when shotes 



260 SWINE IN AMERICA 

were given a half ration of grain and grazed on chufas. 
It was found in another experiment at the Alabama sta- 
tion that an acre of chufas converted into pork was 
worth $13.09 when live hogs were selling at 3^ cents 
per pound. The Arkansas station (Bulletin No. 54) 
estimated a product of 592 pounds of pork from one 
acre of chufas. 

The chili a is considered more difficult to eradicate than 
the artichoke. It is also regarded as having a deleterious 
effect upon the melting point of lard from hogs that 
have not had more or less corn in the last weeks of their 
fattening. 

The cassava has been found to give excellent results 
when fed to swine in connection with wheat middlings 
and cowpeas for fattening (Florida experiment station 
Bulletin No. 55). 

PUMPKINS AND SQUASHES 

Pumpkins and squashes are much relished by Swine, 
and the former especially have been fed to hogs in Amer- 
ica for a century with pleasing results. They make a 
useful and cheaply raised supplement for corn, and 
their keeping qualities add to their value as a succulent 
food for winter. The custom of planting pumpkins with 
corn results in their being grown at almost no expense. 
Those of inferior quality should be fed out first, leaving 
the soundest for storing - . The seeds are exceedingly 
rich in protein, and if hogs are given many pumpkins the 
animals should be watched to see that they are not being 
overfed with seeds and their systems thereby deranged. 



SUCCULENT AND BULKY FEEDS 201 

Pumpkin seeds are a natural vermifuge and are valuable 
for hogs afflicted with any kind of worms. 

Pumpkins are sometimes cooked for swine, but recent 
experiments indicate that this is not profitable. Trials 
at the Central experimental farm of Canada (Annual 
Report of Experimental Farms, 1900), and the Oregon 
(Bulletin No. 54) and New Hampshire (Bulletin No. 
66) experiment stations have been averaged by Rommel 
(Bulletin No. 47, Part II, Bureau of Animal Industry, 
U. S. Department of Agriculture ) to show that a pound 
of pork gain was made from 2.73 pounds of grain with 
3.J6 pounds of raw pumpkin, as compared with 2.22 
pounds of grain with 11.5 pounds of cooked pumpkin. 
Results from the experiments are shown in the table on 
page 262. 

In the Canadian experiment the grain mixture was 
half corn and one-sixth each of oats, peas and barley. 
Shorts were fed with the pumpkins at the Oregon station, 
and skim milk and corn meal were given in the New 
Hampshire experiment. 

A trial of feeding pigs rations of skim milk and raw 
pumpkins was also made at the New Hampshire station 
(Bulletin No. 66). In estimating profits the pumpkins 
were valued at 40 cents per ton, the bare cost of raising 
in the field, and skim milk at 20 cents per hundredweight. 
Three shotes averaging 141 pounds each were fed for 25 
days on all the pumpkins they would eat and a daily al- 
lowance each of 8.4 pounds of milk. They were charged 
by Agriculturist C. W. Burkett, who conducted and re- 
ported the experiment, with eating 3.798 pounds of 
pumpkins, which would be the astonishing daily average 



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SUCCULENT AND BULKY FEEDS 263 

per shote of 50.64 pounds. The gain was 84 pounds for 
the lot of three shotes, as compared with a gain of 170 
pounds for a similar lot fed for an equivalent period on 
a ration of skim milk, corn meal and raw pumpkins. The 
food for the latter lot cost $5.64, and the market value of 
the gain was $9.35 at 5^ cents a pound for live pork, 
making a profit of $3.71. For the lot fed on milk and 
pumpkins only the gain was worth $4.62, and the cost 
for food was but $2.00, making a profit of $2.62. The 
average gain per day was 1.12 pounds by each shote of 
the lot having no corn meal, as compared with a daily 
gain of 2.26 pounds per shote in the lot given the meal, 

Squashes are not so frequently used in hog feeding, 
although their value should be fully equal to that of 
pumpkins, and hogs will eat them quite as readily. Doubt- 
less the hardness and thickness of the rinds of most 
squashes has an influence against them. In sections 
where they are grown in quantities for their seeds 
squashes with their seeds removed are usually best turned 
to profit by swine. 

A Colorado farmer relates the following in reference 
to the use of Hubbard squashes in that State : "A neigh- 
bor claims he can finish the fattening of hogs on Hub- 
bard squashes in one-half the time he can with corn, 
while with pumpkins he can onlv make them hold their 
own. He says he can finish a hog in fair condition in 
six weeks on about one ton of squashes, making a 200-to- 
250 pound hog. He cuts the squashes and feeds them 
raw, and says the hogs clean up everything, shell and 
all." 



-'• ■' 1 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



The squash apparently has a fattening value greater 
than that of the pumpkin, and both pumpkins and 
squashes are worthy of more attention in swine husban- 
dry than has been generally given them. 




is 







; ! '"> J v 



A Yorkshire Sow, as Portrayed in 1870 



CHAPTER XII. 

The Pork-Maker's Mainstay 

NOT DESIRABLE FOR ALL PURPOSES 

Indian corn is at once the dependence and the despair 
of the pork maker. So easily and abundantly raised, 
and in such convenient form for feeding, especially in 
cold weather, it has rightfully earned place as the prin- 
cipal grain for fattening all kinds of farm stock. Its 
very richness and convenient form cause it to be used in 
many cases without a proper understanding of its adap- 
tability to the animal economy, and the result is naturally 
shown in tendencies toward disease. In its great strength 
lies its weakness in the hands of the man who does not 
use this wonderful grain with a good knowledge of its 
capabilities and limitations ; yet, as a cheap fattening 
food for all classes of farm stock, corn stands in America 
without a peer. There is little doubt that with mature 
animals more rapid gains can be obtained at less expense 
from corn than from any other single cereal. The ease 
with which it can be produced, its exceedingly high nu- 
tritive value, its digestibility and palatability, give the 
stockmen within the corn belt a long lead in almost every 
branch of animal industry. 

Corn is the most palatable grain fed to live stock, 
probably because of the nutlike pieces into which the 
kernels break when chewed ; doubtless it is also better 



266 SWINE IN AMERICA 

relished because of the presence in it of so much oil. It 
is extremely rich in oil and starchy matter, and compara- 
tively poor in protein and ash, being, therefore, unusual- 
ly well adapted for supplying material for fat and heat, 
hut not for bone and muscle. Hence, its largest value is 
not for breeding stock and growing pigs, but perhaps 
more nearly than any other one grain it approaches the 
ideal, when properly utilized, for quick fattening for 
market. A carbonaceous food, its use alone is not the 
best feeding, as experience has abundantly testified. No 
matter how well one phase of the body's composition may 
be looked after, if other important constituents are ig- 
nored and uncared for, nature is pretty certain to set up a 
vigorous complaint, which is not uncommonly referred to 
as hog cholera, but, when the exact truth is desired, will 
perhaps be more appropriately designated as carelessness. 
An almost exclusive corn diet and unclean conditions 
will produce fatal results with human beings ; this state- 
ment finds verification in the terrible disease known as 
"pellagra" or "Italian leprosy," afflicting the peasantry 
of southern Europe. The Encyclopedia Britannica says 
of this disease : "The special factor is undoubtedly maize 
as an article of diet or as the staple diet ; but it is, on the 
other hand, perfectly clear that there is nothing in a 
maize diet itself to induce pellagra. Its presence within 
its actual endemic area varies much from province to 
province or from commune to commune, being always 
least where the maize diet is supplemented by wheaten 
flour, rice, beans, chestnuts, potatoes or fish." 



THE PORK-MAKER S MAINSTAY 267 

RESULTS OF ILL-BALANCED FEEDING 

The effect of exclusive corn feeding to swine at all 
ages, even under conditions of average cleanliness, is a 
matter of important knowledge for the feeder. This was 
shown in experiments at the Wisconsin station and re- 
ported in "Swine Husbandry" as follows by Prof. W. A. 
Henry: 

"Knowing corn to be a universal hog 'food and often 
used almost exclusively by many of our farmers, and 
further knowing that chemistry shows that corn is 
excessively rich in the carbohydrates or heat and fat 
formers, while it is low or poor in protein and ash ele- 
ments which go to make up bone and muscle, we thought 
to feed it exclusively to one lot of hogs that we might 
see the effect. The experiments show that when we feed 
hogs a ration rich in carbohydrates but lacking in protein, 
like corn meal, we will find: 

"i. That there is an excessive development of fat, 
not only on the outside of the muscles and beneath the 
skin, but also among the muscles. 

"2. That the muscles of the body fail to develop to 
their normal size, especially some of the most important 
ones, as those along the back. 

"3. That an abnormally small amount of hair and a 
thin skin result. 

"4. That, while the brain, heart and lungs do not 
seem to change in weight, the spleen, liver and kidneys 
are unusually small. 

"5. The amount of blood in the body is greatly re- 
duced from the normal. 



268 SWINE IN AMERICA 

"6. The strength of the bones may be reduced one- 
half. 

"We may conclude that a system of feeding which 
robs the hog of half its blood and half the natural 
strength of the bones, and produces other violent 
changes, is a most unnatural one, and must, if persisted 
in, end in giving us a race of animals unsatisfactory to 
all concerned. From parents thus weakened must come 
descendants that will fall easy victims to disease and dis- 
aster. Knowing the facts as here set forth, can we any 
longer wonder that our hogs are weak in constitution and 
easily break down when attacked by disease? Nor is 
this all; the meat from such animals can hardly be of 
flavor and composition satisfactory to the consumer. 

"Shall we raise less corn, then? Not at all. The 
corn crop is the best of all we raise, and let the word be 
'more' rather than less. We need it all, but we must 
not forget that protein is somewhat lacking in corn. We 
may compare our corn to the bricks which go into a 
building, and the protein food to the mortar which ce- 
ments the bricks together. He who would lay up bricks 
without mortar builds foolishly, and his house will tum- 
ble. Should he find out his mistake, such a man should 
not from that date neglect the bricks and turn his whole 
attention to the mortar. Plenty of good strong mortar 
and an abundance of bricks are what he needs. We 
do not want less corn, but we want more clover, more 
shorts, more bran, more peas, more skim milk, and 
more alfalfa to brine: the hig-hest results." 



THE PORK-MAKER'S MAINSTAY 269 

RELATIVE COST OP CORX AND PORK 

One hundred pounds of pork from ten bushels of corn 
is the usual estimate by American farmers who feed 
whole corn in their large and careless wa), under most 
unfavorable and unpromising conditions, but fed in 
different form, and in conjunction with other feeds, it 
will make more, as has been thousands of times fully 
demonstrated by careful feeders, both in America and 
Europe. While it is perhaps true that the bulk of the 
corn fed to hogs does not give a return of ten pounds 
of pork, live weight, per bushel, it is established that a 
bushel of corn will make that much, and more, if prop- 
erly used ; and where it does the following basis is 
approximately correct for making calculations : 

Feeding with corn worth 12^2 cents a bushel, makes 
pork costing lYi cents a pound for the corn consumed. 

Feeding with corn worth 17 cents a bushel, makes 
pork costing 2 cents a pound. 

Feeding with corn worth 25 cents a bushel, makes 
pork costing- 2/^ cents a pound. 

Feeding with corn worth from 2>Z to 40 cents a bushel, 
makes pork costing 4 cents a pound. 

Feeding with corn worth 50 cents a bushel, makes 
pork costing- 5 cents a pound. 

Or, figuring the other way : 

Pork at 5 cents a pound, live weight, gives 50 cents a 
bushel for corn. 

Pork at 4 cents a pound, live weight, gives from 33 to 
40 cents a bushel for corn. 

Pork at 2 J /z to 3 cents a pound, live weight, gives 
from 25 to 30 cents a bushel for corn. 



270 SWINE IN AMERICA 

The foregoing are merely adaptations of the fanner's 
rule that hogs are fed with profit when the corn con- 
sumed costs around ten cents a bushel for each dollar 
per 100 pounds received for the fatted hogs, live weight. 

QUANTITY OF CORN REQUIRED 

Toward solving the problem as to the corn required 
to bring a hog to 200 or 250 pounds, live weight, the best 
help is experience, obtained with hogs in their pens and 
pastures, and none has more of that character about it 
than some recited by John Cownie of Iowa: 

"I can answer that question," says Mr. Cownie, "for 
I have weighed, not one or a dozen of hogs, but hundreds 
of them, at all ages and under common farm conditions. 
With good, thrifty hogs weighing 200 pounds, and the 
range of a good clover pasture, I have secured a gain of 
15 pounds, live weight, for each bushel of corn. With 
well-bred, thrifty hogs, confined to a feeding floor and 
being fattened to a finish, with no other food but ear corn 
and water, I consider 14 pounds of ear corn daily for 
hogs weighing 250 to 300 pounds an average allowance, 
and the gain should be about two pounds daily. In other 
words, a hog of these weights will consume a bushel of 
corn in five days and make a gain of ten pounds. These 
are no guesswork figures or experiments with a few 
hogs, but the results of feeding hundreds, I might truth- 
fully say thousands, with every ear of corn weighed, the 
hogs weighed every four weeks, and each and every part 
of the work done by myself and every figure verified so 
as to make errors impossible. 






THE PORK-MAKER'S MAINSTAY 2/1 

"But, again, I have seen less than six pounds of gain 
obtained from each bushel, although every effort was 
made to secure better results and the hogs were in a 
thrifty condition. The weather has much to do with 
gain in weight, and I have seen during long-continued, 
cold, stormy weather, even with comfortable quarters, 
very little increase in weight, while there would be only a 
small reduction in the quantity of corn consumed. 

"A young hog will make a somewhat larger gain from 
a bushel of corn than an older animal, if thrifty and the 
feeding is judiciously done, but in round numbers a gain 
of ten pounds in live weight for each bushel of corn is 
very satisfactory. A hog weighing 200 pounds would, 
according to these figures, have consumed 20 bushels of 
corn, and one weighing 300 pounds, 30 bushels. But to 
secure these weights the hogs must be well bred, thrifty 
and judiciously fed, and should have the run of a pasture 
with plenty of grass. The best results will be obtained 
by giving corn sparingly to young hogs and substituting 
in its place shorts, ground oats and other bone-and-mus- 
cle-forming food, finishing with corn. Let no one be de- 
ceived with these figures and conclude that ten pounds of 
live weight in hogs is the easy rule for each bushel of 
corn. I know men who do not secure one-half that gain, 
and yet have been engaged in feeding hogs all their lives. 
Painstaking application, good judgment and an unswerv- 
ing determination to secure success, with a love for the 
work, are all necessary to secure the best results in rais- 
ing hogs." 

A comparative experiment made at the Ohio state uni- 
versity gave 12.3 pounds of pork as the product from one 



2J2 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



bushel of corn, while 13.7 pounds were produced from 
one bushel of wheat. The actual gain in favor of corn 
was revealed through a comparison of the market prices 
of the grains. This showed that the cost of producing 
too pounds of gain from wheat was $4.01, and from 
corn, $2.85. 

At the Illinois station Prof. George E. Morrow maoe 
numerous experiments to ascertain the live weight of 
pork that could be expected from hogs of differing ages 
confined to a diet of whole corn, at various seasons of 
the year, and the following table gives the details, and 
resulting averages : 

WEIGHTS OBTAINED FROM WHOLE CORN FED TO HOGS AT THE 

ILLINOIS EXPERIMENT STATION 

















Corn 


Gain 


No. 






No. 


No. 


Av. wt. 


Gain 


for 100 


per 


of 


Time of feeding. 


of 


of 


of 


per 


pounds 


bushel 


lot. 






days. 


hogs. 


hogs. 


day. 


gain. 


of corn 
fed. 












Pounds 


Pounds 


Pounds 


Pounds 


1 


Nov. 24 to Dec. 


29. . 


35 


2 


290 


2.56 


418 


13.4 


>1 


Nov. 24 to Dec. 


22. . 


28 


2 


284 


2.70 


382 


14.7 


»1 


Dec. IS to Dec. 


22. . 


7 


2 


311 


3.21 


333 


16.8 


2 


May 5 to June 


2. . 


28 


5 


153 


1.39 


437 


12.8 


2 


June 2 to June 


30. . 


28 


5 


192 


1.38 


484 


11.6 


2 


June 30 to July 


28. . 


28 


5 


224 


.85 


646 


8.7 


3 


April 29 to May 


27. . 


28 


2 


209 


1.40 


380 


14.7 


4 


June 10 to July 


22. . 


42 


2 


212 


.90 


535 


10.5 


5 


July 30 to Sept. 


10. . 


42 


3 


66 


.77 


441 


12.7 


6 


June 1 7 to Sept. 


9. . 


84 


3 


207 


.60 


676 


8.3 


7 


Dec. 30 to Feb. 


4. . 


56 


5 


109 


.51 


808 


6.9 


8 


Jan. -24 to Feb. 


4. . 


28 


6 


106 


1.05 


465 


12.0 


9 


Nov. 22 to Jan. 


4. . 


42 


2 


210 


1.30 


500 


11.2 


10 


Jan. 17 to Feb. 


21. . 


35 


4 


192 


1.29 


460 


12.2 


11 


Nov. 3 to Dec. 


IS.. 


42 


3 


120 


.74 


60S 


9.3 


11 


Dec. 15 to Dec. 


22.. 


7 


3 


138 


.55 


620 


8.9 






50 


173 


1.09 


534 


10. Q 



1 Omitted from averages. 



This shows that on an average the hogs gained about 
t.t pounds per day, and that a bushel of shelled corn 
weighing 56 pounds produced 10.9 pounds of gain, live 



THE PORK-MAKERS MAINSTAY 273 

weight. The table shows a wide range of returns — as 
low as 6.9 pounds of gain from a bushel of corn in 
one case, while at the other extreme we have 16.8 
pounds. This last return, for one week only, was with 
hogs which had previously followed steers fed corn on 
blue grass pasture. "While, then," said Professor Mor- 
row, "the gains may range from six to 16 pounds, we 
may conclude that 1 1 pounds of increase, live weight, 
is a satisfactory return from a bushel of whole corn." 

CORN MEAL AND CORN-AND-COB MEAL 

Fattening hogs will usually finish faster on corn meal 
than on shelled corn, and many farmers favor corn meal 
for that reason. Experiments covering the quantity fed 
plainly show, however, that hogs given corn meal eat 
more feed in a given time than those on shelled corn. 
When both the feed eaten and the gains made are taken 
into consideration, the profit in favor of corn meal is con- 
siderably less than many suppose. Corn-and-cob meal has 
been shown to have about the same value as pure corn 
meal; if any advantage is had from corn-and-cob meal, 
as is claimed by some stockmen, it no doubt largely 
comes from the bulk furnished by the particles of cob, 
which by rendering' the contents of the stomach less 
compact or more porous helps to their easier and more 
complete digestion. 

The Missouri station conducted a number of experi- 
ments in 1904 testing corn meal and corn-and-cob meal in 
comparison with other rations for dry-lot feeding (Bulle- 
tin No. 65), concerning which the following was re- 
ported : "Corn-and-cob meal has had advocates for many 



2/4 SWINE IN AMERICA 

years, and some experiments with this feed, tested in op- 
position to pure corn meal, have clearly proved the fact 
that it may be more useful for fattening purposes than 
corn alone. When used with cattle it is about as val- 
uable as the same number of pounds of pure corn meal 
and the results of tests have been, in general, consistent. 
In this case it is merely a question as to whether a bushel 
of ear corn can be made into corn-and-cob meal at no 
greater cost than the value of 14 pounds of corn. In the 
case of hog-feeding, however, tests with corn-and-cob 
meal have not been consistent. Some investigators prove 
that it is a good and economical feed ; others demonstrate 
that it is decidedly not useful for hog feeding. There 
are several elements of difference between the feeding 
of corn-and-cob meal to hogs and to cattle. It must be 
ground much finer for the hog than for the steer and 
this takes much more labor ; also, the characteristics of 
corn-and-cob meal as regards bulk and palatability 
militate against its usefulness for hog-feeding. The feed 
is bulky and unpalatable if the percentage of cob is high. 
The results favorable to the use of corn-and-cob meal 
for hogs must have been obtained with corn which 
shelled out a very low percentage of cob. Such value as 
results from the presence of the cob does not come from 
the small amounts of nutriment which it contains, but 
rather from the lightening, or extending tendency which 
it has, allowing the meal to become more thoroughly im- 
penetrated by the digestive fluids, and requiring longer 
mastication. Profit, however, requires that this lighten- 
ing or extending of the ration be accomplished with the 
minimum amount of indigestible material. The idea has 



THE PORK-MAKERS MAINSTAY 



-/ 3 



presented itself to the writer that if tliere is need of this 
mechanical improvement in the condition of corn meal 
it may be attained at less expense by the addition of 
wheat bran than by the grinding- of the corn cob." 

The ration with corn-and-cob meal fed in the fore- 
going experiment contained 14.3 pounds of cob to the 
bushel, which, said Prof. E. B. Forbes, under whose 
direction the experiment was conducted, formed a ration 
which "had nothing to commend it. To give an un- 
promising feed a fair chance, we reckoned the grinding 
of corn-and-cob at ten cents per 100 pounds, as with corn 
meal, considering that with a grinder especially adapted 
to ear corn the cost might not be appreciably more than 
with shelled corn ; but, as a matter of fact, with the best 
grinders available, it was necessary to grind this corn- 
and-cob meal three times before it was fine enough to 
feed to a hog. Even then it should have been finer. In 
Missouri there are varieties of corn which shell out only 
about six pounds of cob per bushel and would make 
good corn-and-cob meal for pig-feeding; there are others 
grown especially for large woody cobs, which shell out 
about 25 pounds of cob to the bushel, and, if made into 
corn-and-cob meal would be only about as valuable as 
equal parts of corn meal and sawdust."' 

In the Missouri experiment the cost of 100 pounds 
of pork was found to be as follows with corn at 30 cents 
a bushel; wheat middlings, $15 a ton; wheat bran, $13 
a ton; oats, 20 cents a bushel; gluten feed, $19 a ton; 
linseed-oil meal, $24 a ton; ground bone, $25.50 a ton; 
cost of grinding corn, 10 cents per 100 pounds, no ac- 
count being considered as to the cost of soaking: 



2 7& SWINE IN AMERICA 



Lot Ration noun-Is era in 

1 Corn meal, 5 parts; linseed-oil meal, 1 part $2 75 

2 Corn meal, 20 parts; linseed-oil meal, 1 part 2^ 

3 Corn meal, 2 parts; wheat middlings, 1 part ' 2RR 

4 Corn meal, 4 parts; wheat middlings, 1 part 303 

5 Corn meal, 2 parts; ground oats, 1 part A2S 

6 Corn meal, 4 parts; ground oats, 1 part 4 06 

/ Corn meal, 4 parts; wheat bran, 1 part. .. . ?'u 

a Corn-and-cob-meal Tai 

9 Corn meal \\\ 

10 Soaked, whole shelled corn! !!!!!!!!!!! 310 

11 Shelled corn and bone meal ->\c 

12 Shelled corn 37 j 

19 Corn meal, 5 parts, and one-half part each of iinseed- 

oil meal and gluten feed 2.87 



Other experiments have shown that better results were 
obtained by soaking corn-and-cob meal 12 hours before 
feeding- than by feeding- it dry. It is difficult to finish on 
corn-and-cob meal because it lacks the quality for keep- 
ing- the appetite to an edge which will demand enough 
grain for fattening. When hogs begin to tire of corn- 
and-cob meal it is time to change to whole corn, straight 
corn meal, or such other feed or combination of feeds 
as are both palatable and fattening. 

FROSTED AND SOFT CORN 

Untimely severe frosts sometimes damage the corn 
crop so that its marketable value is considerably lowered, 
but in this event, as in other cases, the hog comes to the 
rescue. Soft corn is considered excellent for swine, and 
especially for the young ; in fact, many breeders believe 
they can obtain better gains from soft corn than with 
the sound, hard grain. In soft corn the maturing of the 
grain has been checked, thereby arresting the develop- 
ment of the starch content or fat-producing element. 
When used it is advisable to add, for finishing, some 
corn that is well matured. Immature corn that is frozen 






THE PORK-MAKERS MAINSTAY 2) "V 

and even somewhat soured may be led to hogs, but if 
there is on hand a greater quantity in that condition than 
can be used on the farm before warm weather sets in it 
should be disposed of while the weather is cold. Ordi- 
narily it may be used in cold weather without danger, but 
it should not be carried over into the warm season, as it 
will ferment and become unfit for use. 

FOLLOWING AFTER CATTLE 

A very common method among farmers in the corn- 
feeding territory is to put shotes of 80 to 150 pounds 
weight with the cattle whenever grain feeding is begun — • 
generally about October 1 — at the rate of 15 to 20 shotes 
to ten full-fed steers, the number depending on the 
amount of grain used and the manner in which it is 
placed before the cattle. In the fine weather of fall and 
early winter it is common to feed corn in the fodder or 
in the shuck by throwing it upon the grass in the pas- 
ture; the favorite way is to feed in two different inclo- 
sures, and each day to turn the hogs into the lot where 
the cattle were fed the day previous, which enables them 
to pick up the leavings of the cattle without trampling on 
and over that day's feed until the cattle have eaten as 
much of it as they wish. 

When full grain feed is given to cattle in this way 
about two shotes to each steer are not too many, but 
when corn is fed in tight boxes and troughs, so that but 
a small proportion is scattered, from one shote to one and 
one-half to the steer will keep the feed lots well gleaned. 
If more are kept, additional grain will be required 



jy8 SWINE IN AMERICA 

within their reach to fatten them rapidly, but if only 
growth is the object two and one-half to three shotes to 
each steer that is on full feed will fare pretty well. 

The grain voided whole by the cattle seems to be so 
softened and digestible that hogs thrive on it amazingly, 
consequently those more advanced are soon in a condition 
to market and others can occupy their places in the feed- 
ing lots. Hogs seldom fatten more rapidly, inexpensive- 
ly, or with less outlay of labor than when handled in 
this way, and the method is held in high favor from the 
fact that every pound of increase from the droppings and 
scattered corn is clear gain, none of which would be 
realized without the hog. One too common defect in 
this method of managing is that the hogs are not general- 
ly provided with suitable sleeping' quarters, where they 
can be comfortable without crowding, and are out of 
danger of being trampled and horned by the cattle. 
When hogs following cattle become heavy and clumsy, 
they should be taken out of the steer lots, giving way to 
others more active. 

The g"ain made by giving hogs access to the droppings 
of cattle will depend considerably upon the manner in 
which the corn is fed. The waste from feeding corn in 
any manner is always great enough to make it profitable 
to follow with hogs, but the gains by the latter will natur- 
ally be larger when ear or shelled corn is fed. The Illin- 
ois experiment station has found (Bulletin No. 103) that 
in providing enough pigs to consume the undigested feed 
in the droppings of steers twice as many are required 
when corn is given whole, as in cases where corn meal 
is fed. The experiment at the Illinois station covered 



THE PORK-MAKERS MAINSTAY 



2/9 



six months from November, 1903, to June, 1904, in the 
feeding of corn in various forms to steers which were 
followed by shotes averaging about no pounds each at 
the beginning. The number of shotes kept with the 
steers varied according to the character of the ration, 
being made sufficient to consume the droppings available 
for pork production. The results in pork production 
are shown in the following: table : 



PORK MADE FROM DROPPINGS IX THE VARIOUS LOTS 





j 






Pork per 


Per cent cost of 






Number 


Pounds 


100 pounds 


feed given steers 


Lot 


Form in which corn 


of pigs 


pork 


corn as 


paid for by gain 


No. 


was fed. 


per 


per 


fed to 


of hogs 






steer. 


steer. 


steers. 


following 1 


1 




.10 


6.30 


. 19 2 


.94 


9 




.53 


62.60 


1.68 


9.70 


3 


Ear corn (without nitroge- 






nous concentrates) 


.53 


74.13 


1.89 


14.05 


4 




.27 
.27 


20.66 
20.02 


.67 
.65 


3.00 


5 


Corn meal (hav chaffed) . . . 


2.86 


6 




.27 


18.00 


.46 


2.60 


7 


Corn-and-cob meal (hay 














.27 
.60 


24.00 

73.50 


.63 
1.81 


3.34 


8 


Shock corn and ear corn . . . 


12.72 


9 iShelled corn (mud lot) .... 


.70 


85.80 


2.79 


12.86 


10 




.70 


111.50 


3.61 


16.67 







1 Computed on basis of ear corn in silage and shock corn. 

2 Gain on hogs valued at $5.00 per 100 pounds. 

The feeding of Lot 10 was done on a brick pavement 
where the shotes were able to utilize nearly all of the 
waste, while Lot 9, which was fed in a mud-lot, had, at 
times, but little opportunity to recover the waste. The 
report on this experiment said : "It should be borne in 
mind that at no time during the test did the hogs get 
other feed than that secured from the droppings of the 
steers, and that the steers did not get as heavy grain 
rations for as long a time as is the usual practice among 



280 SWINE IN AMERICA 

cattle feeders. This leads to the conclusion that gains 
of hogs and the value of the same reported here should 
be looked upon as the minimum pork production to be 
anticipated in cattle- fattening operations." Larger gains 
were made by the hogs where corn only was fed to the 
cattle than where it was supplemented by linseed-oil 
meal and gluten meal. 

The amount of waste when whole corn is fed to 
steers may generally be figured at about 25 per cent. It 
is better for practical results to have more shotes than 
are needed to clean up the droppings, rather than a 
smaller number, for they will thereby obtain more exer- 
cise and be less liable to laziness with consequent injury 
or disease. In case more hogs are turned in than are 
necessary to take care of the droppings, they should be 
given sufficient additional feed, preferably on a feeding 
floor in a lot apart from the cattle. The exercise ob- 
tained by shotes which run with cattle is an important 
consideration, and so small a number should not be 
turned in with steers that they are not compelled to 
work for their feed. 

"HOGGING OFF" CORN 

When farm labor is high priced and difficult to secure, 
the helpful hog can relieve the situation by harvesting 
the corn for himself. The practice of turning swine 
into a portion of the field to gather the corn they eat, 
which is termed "hogging off" or "hogging down," 
was formerly much condemned as a shiftless or lazy 
procedure, but it has grown in favor and many find it 
good farm economy when rightly managed, especially 



THE PORK-MAKER'S MAINSTAY 28 T 

through the saving- of labor. It is not advisable to turn 
hogs into the entire corn field, nor to allow them access 
to the standing- corn too early, as the grain will not then 
have the feeding value it has after full maturity, and the 
hogs are more liable to the ailments that may come from 
using- new corn. "Maturity" does not, however, neces- 
sarily mean, for this purpose, that the corn must be 
ilinty or even hard. 

Before hogs are put on full feed on new corn they 
should be prepared for it by a gradual introduction ; this 
may be by giving them green corn, stalks and ears, in 
increasing- quantities along with their dry feed. Thus 
the change from old to new feed or from dry to fresh 
feed is not made so rapidly that the hogs suffer. If 
they are turned into an acre or two at a time, or not 
more than they can clear up in a period of two weeks, 
best results will be secured. The portion of the field 
set aside for them may be separated from the rest by 
a temporary fence or hurdles. A wire fence with posts 
temporarily located as wanted is sometimes used, but 
wire fencing is difficult to handle in heavy corn. 

"Hogging off" corn is most advantageous when the 
weather is dry. It is not judicious to keep hogs in 
the fields after heavv rains. If the season is a wet one 
it will be better to keep them out of the corn field, as 
turning them in is likely to waste the corn and do in- 
jury to the hogs and to the laud. On dry ground, how- 
ever, the droppings by the hogs amount to a distribution 
of valuable manure. In case this is liable to be washed 
off the land by rains after the corn has been harvested it 
will be well to go over the field with a sharp disk or 



2.82 SWINE IN AMERICA 

spike-toothed disk harrow to loosen the surface soil so 
that the manure will be the better retained and absorbed. 

SAVING MADE BY "HOGGING OFF" 

Where conditions are favorable hogs will clean up 
held corn with but inconsiderable waste and leave com- 
paratively little, if any, to be gathered afterward. One 
of the agricultural developments in later years is that 
the swine of greatest profit and wholesomeness are 
produced by their having pasturage or pasture conditions 
from pighood to marketing. "Hogging off" corn is pas- 
turing on grain instead of grass, and this, supervised 
with good judgment, is easily economical rather than 
wasteful. Pastured in cornfields, the swine are benefited 
by the exercise and healthful surroundings. It is some- 
times estimated that the expense of husking, cribbing 
and feeding corn is as great as that of growing it, 
and even if this is or is not approximately correct, the 
"hogging off" process can be the means of a large 
saving. A method often followed is that of turning in 
the fattening hogs first and letting the brood sows and 
shotes follow them later, which will give a cleaning up 
with a minimum of waste. Ears which are beyond the 
reach of swine may be gathered. Pumpkins or rape 
may be planted to advantage in the section of the corn 
field intended for the hogs, thus providing a most whole- 
some variety of feed and more succulence. 

As an instance of methods and results in "hogging 
down" corn the following practical bit of experience is 
given by an Indiana subscriber to Farm, Stock and 
Home: 



THE PORK-MAKER'S MAINSTAY 283 

"In September, 1905, I decided to allow my shotes, 
101 in number, to gather their own feed for a time, 
and having anticipated the same during the early 
summer, I had sown in seven acres of corn, at the last 
plowing, Dwarf Essex rape seed, and, having an abun- 
dance of rain to aid germination and growth, the rape 
did remarkably well, and when the corn v/as enough 
matured to feed to hogs safely the rape was from ten to 
12 inches high and a good, even stand. I began using 
this corn by cutting and throwing it over the fence to 
the shotes on September 5, and on that date the 101 head 
averaged 79 pounds each, the lot weighing 7,980 pounds. 

"After gradually increasing the quantity for about 
ten days, I turned the shotes into the field to help them- 
selves. The corn was an excellent crop, probably averag- 
ing 85 to 90 bushels per acre. The shotes all did ex- 
ceedingly well, not one being- sick. On October 24 the 
corn seemed to be all consumed and the rape as well. 
That day being a very rainy one and not suitable for 
weighing the hogs, I turned them into their former pas- 
ture and fed them husked corn for the day. The next 
day they weighed 18,100 pounds, an average gain of 100 
pounds each for the 50 days they were thus fed. I sold 
them a few days later at $4.85 per 100 pounds, weighed 
at home. As stock hogs the shotes were worth $5 per 
100 pounds at the beginning of the feeding- period, or 
$398.95. I received for them $876.88, or $477.93 gain, 
equal to $68.28 per acre for the seven acres of corn and 
rape consumed. Conditions were most favorable for 
using the crop in this way, as the weather was dry and 
there was practically no waste. I took a basket and went 



284 SWINE IN AMERICA 

over the field a few days after turning- the hogs out and 
got less than a bushel of corn from what remained 
standing."' 

Bulletin No. in, Bureau of Plant industry, U. S. De- 
partment of Agriculture, is authority for this : "An Iowa 
farmer began hogging down corn several years ago, 
using 20 acres the first year. He watched carefully the 
feeding of the hogs on this field and concluded that no 
more corn was wasted than would have been left in 
the field by the average husker. Since that time he has 
hogged down all his corn, thus saving the expense of 
husking. This man says the cost of husking for one 
year will fence the field hog-tight if there is already a 
wire fence for cattle. Husking 40 acres of corn yielding 
40 bushels per acre, at four cents per bushel, amounts to 
$64. If the 40 acres are a square field this allows 20 
cents a rod for the fence the first year. With a cattle 
fence already provided this will buy the wire to make 
it a good hog-tight fence. Besides this there are two 
great objects to be attained by this method of harvesting 
corn: (1) The improvement of the land and (2) the 
health of the hogs. The farmer referred to says that in 
his first year's experience he snapped 20 acres of corn 
beside the field hogged down. The next spring both 
were sown to small grain under the same conditions and 
with the same preparation. The wheat on the land where 
corn was hogged down made five and the oats seven 
bushels more to the acre than did the other. The differ- 
ence is just as noticeable in a succeeding corn crop. The 
husks, cobs, stalks, and leaves all remain on the land, and 



TTTE PORK-MAKER'S MAINSTAY 285 

these, with the manure from the hogs, enrich the soil and 
add organic matter to it. 

"This man allows his pigs to run in the corn as soon 
as the land is plowed the last time, hut does not let the 
older hogs into the field until the corn is in good condi- 
tion to feed in the fall. He says he has also had good 
results from letting cattle into the corn first and follow- 
ing these with hogs. He thinks this is the most practical 
solution of the labor problem when help is so high- 
priced and scarce." 

D. A. Gaumnitz and associates, A. D. Wilson and L. 
B. Bassett of the Minnesota station (Bulletin No. 104), 
made a two-year test of hogging off corn in comparison 
with other methods of feeding it to swine. Observations 
during this test, together with experiences collected 
from farmers in other states who have practiced hogging 
off their corn one or more years, have justified Mr. 
Gaumnitz in the following summary : 

"Hogging off corn may be practiced with profit on 
many farms. 

"Pork was produced with less grain by hogging off 
corn than by feeding ears or snapped corn in yards. 

"Hogs fed in the field gained nearly one-third more 
rapidly than those fed in yards. 

"The cost of fencing corn fields may be from $1.00 
to $2.50 less per acre than the cost of husking the corn. 

"The stover lost in following this method is, in many 
cases, not worth the cost of saving it. 

"It requires no more labor to prepare for subsequent 
crops fields that have been hogged off than those that 
have been treated by the ordinary methods of harvesting. 



286 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



"Hogs waste no more corn in the field than when fed 
in the yards. They pick the corn as clean as most men 
do in husking. 

"Three pounds of rape seed costing 15 cents sown in 
corn at its last cultivation furnish considerable suc- 
culent feed, which may take the place of high-priced 
shorts. 

"Labor in caring for hogs is not increased by hogging 
corn, but may be decreased, if systematic methods are 
employed. 

"It is not expected that all corn raised be fed off with 
hogs, but the amount they can clean up from the time 
it is nicely glazed until the weather becomes unfavorable 
(two or three months in Minnesota) may be very 
economically fed in this way. 

"Hogs should not, as a rule, be turned into more 
corn at one time than they can eat up clean in two or 
three weeks. The shorter period is preferable." 

The following table is made by Mr. Gaumnitz to show 
approximately the number of days required for hogging 
off an acre of corn by a given number of swine weighing 
125 pounds: 



Will keep 
Will keep 
Will keep 
Will keep 
Will keep 
Will keep 
Will keep 
Will keep 



10 Hogs 
20 Hogs 
30 Hogs 
40 Hogs 
SO Hogs 
60 Hogs 
7n Hogs 
80 Hogs 



With Corn Shrunk to Jan. 1, and Yielding 



30bu. 
per 
acre. 



Davs 
22. 5 

11.2 
7.5 
5.6 
4.5 
3.7 
3.2 
2.8 



3Sbu. 
per 
acre. 



Davs 
26.2 



40bu. 
per 



Days 
30.0 
15.0 
10.0 

7.5 



45bu. 
per 



Davs 

33.7 

16.8 

11.2 

8.4 

6.7 

5.6 

4.8 

4.2 



50bu. 
per 



Davs 
3 7. "5 
18.7 



55bu 
per 



Davs 

41.2 

20.6 

13.7 

10.3 

8.2 

6.8 

5.8 

5.1 



60bu 
per 
acre. 



Days 
45.0 
22.5 
15.0 
11.2 



65bu. 
per 
acre. 



Davs 

48.7 



70bu. 
per 
acre. 



Davs 

5 2. '5 

26.2 

17.5 

14.1 

10.5 

8.7 

7.S 

6.S 



THE PORK-MAKER'S MAINSTAY 287 

When hogs have been full fed as they are hogging off 
corn, they should be marketed, as quick gains are not 
made later in yards, and the risk of loss is not incon- 
siderable. 

James Atkinson is of the opinion that it is a great 
mistake to begin hogging off corn too earl)-. "True, 
they will eat some of the leaves when the corn is suc- 
culent, but even with this there is still an enormous 
waste. It is our opinion that a given acreage of corn 
will go three times as far after it begins to dent as it 
will if pastured when in the roasting-ear condition." 

FEEDING NEW CORN 

Many farmers in the corn belt instinctively associate 
the thought of new corn with "hog cholera," and the 
belief is common in some localities that the use of new 
corn will cause the disease. This may indirectly be some- 
what true, as the sudden change to new corn is not un- 
likely to produce a feverish condition which would en- 
courag-e the thriving of anv latent disease germs. It is 
undeniable that swine appear to be more generally afflict- 
ed with disease about the time new corn is made use of, 
but an examination might show that such a condition is 
rather to be expected. When the new corn is given they 
greatly relish the soft, succulent, fresh food, and, if per- 
mitted to do so, will eat enough to change their probable 
constipation to acute diarrhea, and put them in a con- 
dition which invites other ailments. 

Much of the so-called cholera which comes in the au- 
tumn is but the diseased condition brought about by a 



288 SWINE IN AMERICA 

sudden change from a limited, dry diet to a plethora of 
the appetizing new corn. The temptation to rush hogs 
off to market he fore cold weather approaches should not 
encourage the farmer to make too sudden a change in 
his methods of feeding. When the earliest corn is in full 
roasting-ear stage it may be given, stalk and all, in mod- 
erate quantity, without any change at first in the usual 
feeding. As the corn hardens it may be given more 
liberally, but by a gradual increase. By the time the 
corn is fully matured the hogs will have become well 
accustomed to it. The judicious use of the new corn 
is purely an application of the judgment which should 
prevail in feeding at all times. 

Hogs that have had access to plenty of green pas- 
ture are less liable to be disturbed by green or new 
ci >rn than those previously kept in dry lots. Where they 
have been pastured on rape or green, succulent food of 
that character, the risk is greatly diminished. Pumpkins 
are excellent feed for hogs about to be put on green 
corn. They supply succulence, and their seeds serve 
well as a vermifuge. 

"It is not alone when new corn is fed," says John 
Cownie, "that the utmost care should be taken in feeding, 
but at all times the strictest vigilance should be main- 
tained as regards both feed and water. With the hogs 
in thrifty condition, new corn can be fed without danger, 
but judgment must be exercised or the worst results will 
follow. In feeding horses each animal receives its allow- 
ance, and it is only by carelessness or accident that a 
horse fed in a stall could receive an undue allowance. 
Bnt in feeding a herd of hogs there are always some 



THE PORK-MAKER'S MAINSTAY 289 

more ravenous than others, and it requires the utmost 
care to prevent a part of them from getting more than 
their proportionate share. This being- the case, and it 
being impossible to teed each separately, as with horses, 
it naturally follows that other feed must be supplied in 
addition to the new corn. Grass, oats, old corn or other 
grain should be given liberally in conjunction with new 
corn, and when grain or shorts, etc., are fed it will be 
found advisable to satisfy the animals with this kind of 
feed before adding the new corn. In the feeding of 
new corn there should be no sudden change from the 
former ration, but it should be added so gradually as 
to cause no derangement m the digestive organs. Hogs 
fed new corn are liable to be affected with worms, and 
hardwood ashes, charcoal and salt are all efficient in 
either destroying them or preventing their increase. 
Turpentine and castor oil are now, as in the days of 
our childhood, sovereign remedies for worms, and 
a teaspoonful of turpentine with double the quantity of 
raw linseed oil for each hog, and mixed in slop proves 
very efficient. Carbolic acid, five to eight drops for each 
hog, mixed with the water given to drink, will aid in 
destroying disease germs, and the utmost cleanliness in 
all the surroundings, and especially in bed, food and 
water, will aid in promoting health and reduce in no 
small degree the risk from loss in feeding new corn." 

DANGER IN GREEN STALKS 

When the green stalks are given to hogs care should 
be used to prevent cattle from having access to the woody 



.:<)() SWINE IN AMERICA 

fiber which the swine will leave after chewing the stalks. 
Pigs relish chewing- the stalk for the sweetness in it, but 
leave enough saccharine matter in the fiber to make it 
attractive to cattle, especially the younger stock. This 
fiber is indigestible, and the cattle, if allowed to pick it 
up, will frequently eat a sufficient quantity to cause im- 
paction and harmful if not fatal results. It is not safe to 
let cattle into yards where swine are given green corn 
stalks. 



CORN SUPPLEMENTS AND SUBSTITUTES 



The proper supplementary feeds which balance corn in 
a ration not only enable the hog to show better results in 
fattening, but they also make possible a more economical 
ration. Feeding a hog on corn alone, whatever the form, 
is a false economy by which the feeder cheats both him- 
self and the hog. Its natural supplements are those 
which furnish protein and mineral matter, and, if not 
easily available on the farm are usually purchasable so as 
to be used at a profit. Some, such as clover, alfalfa and 
other pasturage, are unquestioned as to their desirable 
qualities, and others, such as the prepared meat scraps 
from the great packing houses and known by their trade 
names of meat meal or tankage, have rapidly come in 
favor for the large amount of protein they supply. The 
ash or mineral matter of the corn grain is considered in- 
digestible for swine, and the absence of mineral matter 
impairs the nutritive process and injures the structure; 
yet it is neither difficult nor expensive to supply hogs 



,, 



THE PORK-MAKERS MAINSTAY 291 

with ashes, salt, coal, charcoal or charred cobs as cor- 
rectives, with corn. The supplementary feeds are treated 
in their respective chapters following. 

In time of a short corn crop from drought or for any 
other reason, the farmer may be compelled to look to 
some substitute as an early feed, and this may be at times 
a perplexing problem. When corn is scarce, other feed- 
ing- stuffs are likely to be high in price. An Iowa man of 
long experience, who has weathered a number of "corn 
famines" as a hog-raiser, and has devoted special atten- 
tion to this question, gives advice undoubtedly most prac- 
tical : 

"We advise," he has said in Wallaces' Farmer, "first 
the sowing as early in the spring as possible of a mix- 
ture of oats, spring wheat, barley and rape; about three 
pounds of rape seed per acre and about one-third of the 
usual seeding of each of the rest. Get this in just as 
quick as you can in the spring. In addition, we would 
plow up the barn lot, if possible, after the manure is 
hauled out, and the lots around the buildings where cat- 
tle have tramped out the grasses. When the growth is 
high enough to make a bite, we would turn in the hogs. 
Where it is not possible to sow a field in this way we 
would at least have two or three acres sown around the 
buildings. Bear in mind that you cannot get this in too 
soon in the spring. 

"We would, if possible, put an acre or two in oats and 
Canada peas, sowing these just as early as we could. 
Prepare the ground and sow the peas at the rate of 1^ 
bushels per acre and plow them under about three inches 
deep, then a few days afterwards, and before they are 



_'9J SWINE IN AMERICA 

up, sow oats at the rate of about two bushels per acre 
and harrow them in. We would sow Early Champion 
oats. This in the latitude of central Iowa should give a 
good grain feed by the 25th of June; earlier, south, and 
later, north. If you cannot get the Early Champion oats, 
sow Manshury barley. The next thing we would advise 
is to select the very earliest varieties of corn, say the 
Early Wisconsin or Pride of the North. It is not worth 
while to plant them until about the usual time of early 
corn-planting. We would plant in the latitude of central 
Iowa about May 1, if possible, with a drill, about one- 
third thicker than the usual stand of corn, say a stalk 
every ten inches. This will furnish early corn — not so 
much of it as the later varieties, but by feeding it you 
will get the market price of old corn. Except in case of 
necessity, we would let it mature, if possible, but we 
would by all means grow these early varieties, say to the 
extent of from three to seven or eight acres. 

"By this method the farmer can have pasturage for 
his hogs, of the best kind, until the peas are formed. 
The corn will furnish him grain feed later. He will be 
astonished at the amount of feed he will get from two 
or three acres of rape, but he should sow the grains with 
it, as the hogs will prefer them until the rape is about 
eight or ten inches high, after which they will prefer the 
rape until the grains begin to form seed. 

"The shortage of the corn crop means not merely the 
sale at a cheap price of a large amount of what the Eng- 
lish call store cattle or stock cattle, and stock hogs and 
stock sheep, but it will prevent the growing of hogs the 
next vcar. There is a harvest here for the man who can 



THE PORK-MAKER'S MAIM STAY 293 

carry his pigs through on these cheap home-grown feeds 
until he can grow the corn to finish them off. Do not 
stop growing hogs because corn is high. Grow all the 
more, and take this way of producing the frames cheaply 
to be finished off on next year's corn crop." 

Even when corn is high the relative price for pork fre- 
quently makes it the cheapest feed for finishing; fifty- 
cent corn is not expensive feed for six-cent hogs. Up 
to the last six weeks of feeding, wheat, rye or other 
cheaper substitutes may be used with grass, but in the 
ordinary course corn will be the best dependence for the 
close of the fattening period. 

THE SOUTH CAN RAISE PORK 

In some of the southern states, where cotton is made 
the paramount crop, small attention, relatively, is given 
to pork production, greatly to the disadvantage of the 
people whose supply of hog-products must be procured 
from a distance and always at high cost. These states 
not being regarded as corn-growing territory in any con- 
siderable way, and the chief attention there being given 
to cotton-growing", the idea has always prevailed that 
the pork and lard needed there could be purchased more 
economically than they could be produced. 

An experiment reported (Bulletin No. 107) from the 
branch experiment station at Delta, Panola county, 
(northwestern) Mississippi, seems to refute the idea 
that pork, and some corn as well, cannot be raised to ad- 
vantage in the South, and a gist of the report is presented 
here, as very suggestive : In October, November and 



294 SWINE IN AMERICA 

December, 122 pigs, practically pure-bred Berkshires, 
were marketed, at an average age of about 10 months, 
for $1,382.51. They were the produce of ten sows, far- 
rowing two litters a year. The fall pigs were farrowed 
from September 20 to October 10, and the spring litters 
from March 18 to April 22. Thirty-two were sold on 
foot and averaged 175/2 pounds; 85 were dressed and 
averaged 135 3-8 pounds and five gilts for breeding 
averaged 196 pounds. A financial statement showing 
cost of production, proceeds of sale and net profit, is 
as follows : 

EXPENSES 

265 bushels of corn at 70 cents per bushel $185.50 

260 bushels of corn (estimated) at 65 cents per bushel. . . 169.00 

3 tons of shorts at $25 7 5.00 

Rent on 13i acres of land at $6 per acre 81.00 

Seed used on pasture lots 29.50 

Preparing and seeding pasture lots 39.50 

Total expense $579.50 

PROCEEDS 
32 pigs, average live weight, 175 J pounds, at 6 cents per 

pound $336.96 

85 pigs, average dressed weight, 135 3-8 pounds, at 8 

cents per pound 920.55 

5 gilts, for breeding purposes 125.00 

Total proceeds $1,382.51 

Net profit 803.01 

If the five gilts, which averaged 196 pounds, had been 

sold at 6 cents, the net profit would have been. . . 736.81 

"The corn (estimated ) in the above expense account 
was grown on 13 acres of land after a crop of oats had 
been harvested. Peas were planted in the corn, and the 
hogs were turned in the field in the fall, eating the peas 
and corn together. In order to get the peas planted in 
time to mature, the corn was given only one working, 
and 20 bushels per acre is a fair estimate of the yield." 
For pasture these swine had Bermuda grass, red clover, 
wheat, Dwarf Essex rape, and sorghum. 



THE PORK-MAKER S MAINSTAY 295 

J. W. Fox, the author of the bulletin, adds this: "The 
farm is fenced, making it possible to fatten the hogs 
largely on peas planted in the corn as a catch crop for 
fertilizing purposes. This crop gives the South a dis- 
tinct advantage over other sections, and this feature of 
the work cannot be too strongly urged. The fact that 
the peas can be converted into money without any cost 
of harvesting should add an additional incentive to grow 
more corn and peas and thus improve the land, conduct 
the farm with less labor, and keep the cotton money at 
home." 

Bulletin No. 143 of the Alabama experiment station, 
issued in July, 1908, gives a summary by D. T. Gray, J. 
F. Duggar and J. W. Ridgeway of three years' work 
in swine production, with a view to making a compari- 
son between finishing hogs upon corn alone and upon 
corn supplemented with either green crops or concen- 
trates. An aggregate of 90 hogs was used in the vari- 
ous tests. The conclusions arrived at from this work 
were summarized as follows, and are, of course, from 
the standpoint of a typical southern or cotton-growing 
state. 

When corn was used alone as a ration for fattening 
hogs both the daily gains and the financial outcome were 
unsatisfactory- Money was lost in every case where 
corn was fed without a supplement. 

When corn was supplemented with a partial ration of 
cottonseed meal the daily gains and the financial out- 
come were satisfactory. Four deaths occurred as a re- 
sult of the use of cottonseed meal, but these deaths did 



296 SWINE IN AMERICA 

not occur while the animals were eating the meal. All 
of the deaths have occurred soon after the animals were 
taken off cottonseed meal and placed upon a ration 
which contained no cottonseed meal. This suggests that 
cottonseed meal may be stimulating in its effects — 
similar to the action of certain drugs — and when re- 
moved suddenly from the animals that death may occur 
through depression. 

Tankage, a packing house by-product, proved an ex- 
ceedingly satisfactory feed to supplement corn. In fact, 
it was almost as satisfactory as cottonseed meal, and 
has the advantage over cottonseed meal in that there is 
no danger in feeding it. 

When corn was supplemented with one-half cowpeas 
(the seed) the results were more satisfactory than when 
corn was used alone, valuing the cowpeas at 80 cents 
per bushel. The peas were used profitably until they 
reached a price of $1.05 per bushel. 

As a whole, peanut pasture was found to be more 
useful than any other tried. Notwithstanding that the 
peanut pastures were not good two years out of the 
three, they still gave excellent results. Pork was made 
at a good profit when peanut pasture was used with corn. 

Mature sorghum pasture has very little to recom- 
mend it as a feed for fattening swine. Both the gains 
and the financial outcome were unsatisfactory. 

When the sorghum was cut and carried to the hogs 
the results were better than when the hogs were made 
to graze the crop. 



THE PORK-MAKER'S MAINSTAY 297 

The expense of extracting the juice from the sorghum 
and feeding the juice only prohibits its use in this way, 
although excellent daily gains were made. In no case 
was the juice found to be worth more than 1.8 cents a 
gallon as a feed for hogs. 

Soy bean pasture ranked second to peanut nasture as 
a supplement to corn. 

Chufa pasture was not found to be as good as either 
peanuts or soy bean pasture. 

The average daily gains were as follows : Corn alone, 
.69 of a pound : corn 2-3 of the ration with cottonseed 
meal 1-3, 1.04 pounds; corn 9-10 with tankage 1-10, 
1.04 pounds; corn /^ with cowpeas Yi, .94 pound; corn 
with peanut pasture, 1.01 pounds; corn with sorghum 
pasture, .37 pound ; corn 2-3 with cottonseed meal 1-3 
with peanut pasture, 1.00 pound; corn 2-3 with cotton- 
seed meal 1-3 with sorghum pasture, .46 of a pound; 
corn with chufa pasture, .72 of a pound ; corn with soy 
bean pasture, 1.02 pounds; corn 2-7, with cottonseed 
meal 1-3 with soiled (cut) sorghum, .75 of a pound. 

The cost of one hundred pounds gain in each case, 
when the cost of putting in and cultivating the pasture 
crops was not taken into consideration, was as follows : 
Corn alone, $7.63 ; corn 2-3 with cottonseed meal 1-3, 
$5.75 ; corn 9-10 with tankage 1-10, $5.18; corn Yz with 
cowpeas l />, $5.11; corn with peanut pasture, $2.28; 
corn with sorghum pasture, v$5-46; corn 2-3 with cotton- 
seed meal 1-3 with peanut pasture, $1.97; corn 2-3 with 
cottonseed meal 1-3 with sorghum pasture, $4.85 ; corn 
with chufa pasture, $3.81; corn with soy bean pasture, 



2(J)S SWINE IN AMERICA 

$1.96; corn 2-3 and cottonseed meal 1-3 with soiled sor- 
ghum, $3.39. 

The cost of one hundred pounds gain in each case, 
wlien the cost of putting in and cultivating the pasture 
crops was counted ag"ainst the gains, was as follows : 
Corn alone, $7.63 ; corn 2-3 with cottonseed meal 1-3, 
$5.75 ; corn 9-10 with tankage 1-10, $5.18; corn J /> with 
cowpeas ]/z, $5.11; corn with peanut pasture, $3.20; 
corn with sorghum pasture, $11.90; corn 2-7, with cot- 
tonseed meal 1-3 with peanut pasture, 2.14; 'corn 2-3 
with cottonseed meal 1-3 with sorghum pasture, $7.79; 
corn with chufa pasture, $8.89; corn with soy bean pas- 
ture, $2.74; corn 2-3 with cottonseed meal 1-3 with 
soiled sorghum, $4.86. 

When hogs have been grazing a green crop it usually 
pays to inclose and feed them in a dry lot for a short 
period after the green crop is exhausted. 

To secure a better price for the corn, feed it in com- 
bination with some other feed. 

When hogs bring from 5 to 7 cents a pound live weight 
the farmer cannot afford to sell his corn for 70 cents a 
bushel. 

The Missouri station ( Bulletin 65 ) finds that "corn 
alone, however prepared, even as cheap as 30 cents per 
bushel, is a very expensive feed for dry-lot pork produc- 
tion. . . . Soaking corn is much less expensive than 
grinding, and nearly as valuable. . . . Summer feed- 
ing in Missouri in the dry lot seems to require very much 
more grain per pound of gain than is required in spring 
and fall. The roughage picked up by the pig in pasture 
is a very important part of the ration." 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Feeding and Fattening 

The beginner in swine husbandry is naturally inclined 
to demand knowledge of exact rations and methods for 
his operations, unmindful of the fact that the man and 
his animals and the local facilities or conditions — any one 
or all of these — may make the specific application of a 
given method or ration entirely unwise. Precisely the 
variety and quantity to feed a hog, for example, is a ques- 
tion between the animal and his feeder and the best 
another can do is to offer suggestions and experiences. 
To the observing and thoughtful these may be of great 
value; possibly as much so in furnishing ideas of what 
not to do as in an affirmative way. The experiences of 
others will be helpful according to the quality of a man's 
own judgment in their application. There is ample tes- 
timony to enable him to decide whether a certain feed 
is best suited for growth or for fattening, but the most 
economical or profitable ration for him to use can only 
be determined from a knowledge of the feeds available 
and the current prices for them. Grain or other feed on 
hand may ordinarily be desirable, yet on occasion of 
high prices prevailing for one commodity it may be econ- 
omy to dispose of that on the farm and purchase for the 
:ime being one less expensive. Instances might be mul- 
tiplied showing how far the feeder's judgment and in- 
telligence enter into the attainment of satisfactory 
results. 

299 



tOO SWINE IN AMERICA 



PROGRESS IN FEEDING KNOWLEDGE 






In the three or four decades ending with the year 
1908 a variety of new ideas as to fattening swine has 
come to be accepted, and practices strongly approved of 
formerly, such as cooking feed, have been carefully 
tested and abandoned in the interest of economy or for 
other sufficient reason, while new feeds and new methods 
have won established places on their merits or been cast 
out as wanting. The main principles of breeding have 
been established longer, and changes in them in recent 
years have not been so notable as in feeding and fatten- 
ing. The work of the state experiment stations has been 
especially progressive since 1898, when it was stimulated 
by the publication of Prof. W. A. Henry's incomparable 
handbook on "Feeds and Feeding," in which he felt 
compelled to remark that "no extended work has yet 
been done in this country on the influence of feeds on 
pork, and for the present we must be guided by the 
statements of foreign observers." Since that time 
much experimentation in swine feeding has been carried 
on at the stations in different states. 

No animal on the farm is better adapted to turning 
good feed quickly into marketable meat than the hog, 
and none can better repay, from a market standpoint, a 
discriminating system of feeding. This is particularly 
true as to first costs, for the hog is by nature planned to 
utilize the least expensive feeds and will manufacture into 
toothsome pork much that might otherwise be reckoned 
of little value, if not waste. In any phase of farm 
economy the hog is a feature, and his proper feeding 



FEEDING AND FATTENING 3OI 

has in innumerable instances been the factor that kept a 
farm's profit on the right side of the ledger. 

CLASSES OF FEED 

Feeds are usually classified as concentrated or bulky, 
as they give a large or small quantity of nutriment for 
the bulk supplied. Concentrates, as those of the former 
class are called, include the grains and seeds, mill feeds, 
and packing house and other by-products which have the 
nutritive material in more or less condensed form. 
Grasses, fodder, hay, roots and vegetables, which pro- 
vide a considerable quantity of "filling" with a com- 
paratively smaller amount of nutriment, are bulky feeds. 
Having rather small stomach capacity, the hog needs 
feeds less coarse than other animals, especially rumi- 
nants, like the cow, which require increased bulk to in- 
sure a complete digestion ; at the same time, the hog is an 
omniverous creature and craves a variety, and this 
variety is most easily and healthfully supplied by the 
more or less bulky products. Digestion of concentrated 
feeds is less difficult when considerable coarse material 
is used with them. 

The principal constituents of feeds are chemically 
known as proteids, or nitrogenous compounds, which are 
utilized mainly to make up the muscular tissues (hence 
are of importance when growth is needed), and carbo- 
naceous matter, as starches and sugars (carbohydrates) 
and fats (hydrocarbons), which are utilized in making 
fat and energy. Water content and ash are feed factors 
which should have consideration. Water is indispen- 
sable for any animal's body, but if more than the normal 



302 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



quantity is taken it may be harmful rather than bene- 
ficial. Ash or mineral matter is a relatively small con- 
stituent of the body, except in the bony structure, but is 
none the less important. 

COMPOSITION OF BODIES 

Some knowledge of the composition of the bodies of 
hogs is of value to the feeder in aiding him to judge of 
characteristic food requirements. The most extended 
research on this line was made by Lawes and Gilbert at 
the Rothamsted (England) experiment station. The re- 
sults of the analyses were published in 1859, and among 
the determinations as to the composition of animals 
were included those of the collective carcass parts, col- 
lective offal parts and the entire bodies of a "store" 
(lean) pig and a fat pig, which follow: 

TABLE SHOWING PERCENTAGE COMPOSITION OF CARCASS, 
OFFAL AND ENTIRE BODY OF STORE (LEAN) PIG AND 
FAT PIG 















Contents 










Total 




of stom- 


Description 


Mineral 


Nitroge- 




drv 




ach and 


of 


matter 


nous sub- 


Fat. 


sub- 


Water. 


intestines 


animal. 


(ash). 


stance. 




stance. 




in moist 

state. 



I. Per cent in carcass. 



Store pig. 
Fat pig. . 



2.57 
1.40 



14.0 


28.1 


44.7 


55.3 


10. s 


49.5 


61.4 


38.6 



II. Per cent in offal (excluding contents of stomach and intestines). 



Store pig. 
Fat pig. . 



3.07 
2.97 


14.0 
14.8 


15.0 
22.8 


32.1 
40.6 


67.9 
59.4 



III. Per cent in the entire animal (fasted live weight). 





2.67 
1.65 


13.7 
10.9 


23.3 
42.2 


39.7 

54.7 


55. 1 
41.3 


5.22 
3.97 







FEEDING AND FATTENING 



303 



The Iowa experiment station conducted, in 1897, 
feeding experiments from birth with different lots of 
Berkshire, Tamworth, Chester White, Poland-China, 
Dnroc-Jersey and Yorkshire pigs, which were slaughtered 
in the Chicago packing house of Swift & Company. 
Eight carcasses, representing as many lots, were shipped 
to Washington for investigation as to chemical composi- 
tion by the Division of Chemistry of the United States 
Department of Agriculture. The blood, hair, entrails, 
heads, kidneys and kidney fats were not shipped, but the 
analyses represented practically the composition of the 
hog as put in'-o commerce for food. The data obtained 
are given in the following table, in which No. 5 was a 
Dnroc-Jersey from a lot fed on a narrow ration, and No. 
f> was from a lot fed on a wide ration : 



ANALYTICAL DATA, EXPRESSED IN PERCENTAGES, OF THE 
ENTIRE DRESSED ANIMAL, THE HEAD, LEAF LARD 
AND KIDNEYS HAVING BEEN REMOVED 



Number 


Weight 






Nitroge- 








and breed 


m 


Water. 


Fat. 


nous sub- 


Leci- 


Ash. 


Total. 


of pig. 


pounds. 






stances. 


thin. 








1291 

141 


43.10 
41.09 


40.46 
42.97 


13.02 
11.99 


0.27 
0.17 


2.57 
2.63 


99.42 




98.85 


3. Chester White 


125| 


35.80 


51.11 


9.85 


0.17 


1.84 


98.77 


4. Poland-China 


146| 


37.83 


48.90 


9.66 


0.19 


1.83 


98.41 


5. Duroc-Jersey 


137g 


32.32 


55.07 


8.99 


0.11 


2.01 


98.50 




167A 


30.31 


56.81 


9.80 


0.19 


1.7 5 


98.86 




149 J 


30.58 


57.68 


8.96 


0.42 


1.81 


99.45 


8. Yorkshire 


160 T 3 S 


40.39 


44.35 


11.44 


0.31 


2.40 


98.89 




144| 
167A 


36.43 
43.10 


49.67 
57.68 


10.46 
13.02 


0.23 
0.42 


2.11 
2.63 


98.90 


Maxima 


99.45 




125^ 


30.31 


40.46 


8.96 


0.11 


1.81 


98.41 







The methods and results of the foregoing experiment 
are detailed fully in Bulletin No. 48, page 381, of the 
Iowa experiment station, and in "Chemical Composition 



304 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



of the Carcasses of Pigs," Bulletin No. 53 of the United 
States Department of Agriculture, Division of Chem- 
istry. 

CHARACTER OF FEED NEEDED 

The constituents most desirable in feed for swine de- 
pend greatly upon the use to which the animal is to put 
them. A newly born pig's body is largely water, and to 
grow he must have food that will produce tissue. That 
is why the milk, primarily designed to furnish proper 
nourishment for growing animals, needs to be, as it is, so 
rich in nitrogenous substance. Later, when the time 
comes that he is intended for quick-fattening, he should, 
naturally, be supplied with feed containing much fat 
making material, and it is that quality which has given 
corn its high place in finishing hogs for slaughter. It is 
readily seen, therefore, that different kinds of feed will 
be needed to furnish the most beneficial results, accord- 
ing to the stage of growth of the animal, the energy re- 
quired for its maintenance, and the end to which the ani- 
mal is destined ; yet it does not necessarily follow that a 
ration should be one-sided or be dominated by one ele- 
ment to the exclusion of a variety. Losing sight of this 
is a mistake that has been made more frequently in the 
use of corn than any other feed ; not so much, perhaps, 
because it is rich in carbonaceous matter, as by reason of 
its convenience and cheapness in the regions where it 
flourishes, 

METHODS OF HANDLING FEED 

To specially prepare feed it may be soaked, ground or 
rooked. As a general practice cooking feed for swine 



FEEDING AND FATTENING 



v^O 



does not pay for the additional time, labor and expense 
involved, and in fattening swine for market it is no- 
longer regarded as worth while. Henry reports in 
"Feeds and Feeding" that the recorded trials of cooking 
feed showed a loss of 6 per cent in the feeding value 
because of cooking. On this subject he says, however: 

"A few feeds appear to require the modifying influ- 
ence of heat and moisture to render them palatable and 
digestible for stock. Potatoes cannot be successfully 
fed to swine in any quantity unless they are first cooked, 
and roots are more palatable if cooked and meal is added 
to the mass. Feeders should not confuse the effects of 
cooked feeds upon farm stock with the advantages of 
supplying them with warm feed in palatable form. To 
the assertion that stockmen who cook feed have the 
finest animals, the writer ventures the opinion that one 
who is willing to cook feed will usually give his animals 
many attentions which feeders generally pass by as not- 
worthy their time or notice. It is this extra care and 
the larger variety of feeds usually supplied rather than 
the cooking which make animals of superior quality. For 
the purpose of affording variety, the various grains, 
roots and tubers, together with clover or alfalfa chaff, 
may be boiled or steamed for pigs and used as part of 
the ration." 

Proper consideration for a sick hog may occasionally 
call for the cooking of feed, and where expense is not 
an object, as in fitting show animals or in bringing up 
the condition of breeding stock, cooked feed may be 
preferred. 



306 SWINE IN AMERICA 

GROUND FEED 

The advisability of grinding feed is more or less de- 
pendent on prices prevailing for it, unless the expense of 
grinding is slight or may be entirely disregarded. If 
the whole feed is high in the open market and the feed- 
er's cost of grinding is low he may effect enough of a 
saving to make grinding profitable. There is undeni- 
ably some loss through the excrement when whole grain 
is fed, more with oats or barley than with corn, but Ca- 
nadian records (Central Experimental Farm Bulletin No. 
33) show that the quantity is not excessive. In case the 
corn is flinty and unusually hard and it is intended for 
young swine, grinding may prevent sore mouths, and 
should aid growth. 

Most of the records which have been kept relating to 
the grinding of feed have concerned the grinding of 
corn, and the results have been varying and not decisive. 
The most extended investigations have been made at the 
Wisconsin station, and are summarized in the Nineteenth 
Annual Report of that station (page 10) ; these showed 
losses in some instances and gains in other trials through 
grinding the corn. Advantages from the feeding of 
ground corn for fattening are problematical and de- 
pendent on local conditions. 

More can be said in favor of grinding peas, soy beans, 
Kafir-corn, millet seed and the various small grains. 
Records kept at the Canadian Central experimental farm 
showed a little gain in weight from feeding peas ground, 
but there was a saving of 17 per cent in quantity. Ex- 
periments with small grains show an advantage from 
grinding, by reason of the amount saved in digestion. 



FEEDING AND FATTENING 307 

WET AND DRV FEED 

Corn meal and other ground foods are more palatable 
and better relished if fed wet. Whole grain is more 
generally soaked than is ground grain. The experi- 
ments made at the different stations in feeding swine 
with wet and dry feed are summarized by George M. 
Rommel, however, in the United States Department of 
Agriculture bulletin on "The Hog Industry" as showing 
an advantage of but little more than 2 per cent in favor 
of soaking. So far as tests made by experiment stations 
and their more or less contradictory results are indica- 
tive, either wetting or soaking whole or ground grain is 
of less importance than popularly supposed. The author, 
nevertheless, is of the opinion that in many instances, 
soaking grain, especially old corn that has become very 
dry and hard, for swine can be done advantageously. 

LIMIT OF FEEDING CAPACITY 

\n his own way the hog has unexcelled ability to 
manufacture the right sort of feed into marketable 
product, but the good feeder will learn his limitations as 
well as his abilities. No animal can add to its frame or 
flesh an ounce more than its natural or inherited ca- 
pacity will permit, yet this natural capacity may be modi- 
fied through generations of feeding. The laws therein 
involved have been amply demonstrated in experimental 
work, which has shown particularly important results in 
regard to the wrong nurturing of pigs. Some of the 
decisive investigations are fully reported in W. A. 
Henry's "Feeds and Feeding," where, in discussing them, 
its author says : "These experiments were conducted at 



JOS SWINE IN AMERICA 

several stations in widely separated states and countries 
and with different feeds, yet the results were concordant 
in showing' that the frame of the growing" animal and 
the vital organs can be greatly modified by improper 
nutrition — the muscles produced by such feeding being 
less than normal in size, the bones robbed of their 
strength, the vital organs, such as the liver and kidneys, 
modified, and even the blood reduced in quantity. The 
observant feeder and breeder of swine studying these 
trials must be impressed with the plastic character of the 
body of the growing animal. He learns that the bones 
and muscles as well as some of the internal organs of 
the body can be thrown out of their normal relations 
one to another through an unbalanced or improper food 
supply. He sees it possible for immature animals to live 
a long time without showing disease, while being 
dwarfed in form and made prematurely fat. He learns 
that nature's plan is to grow the framework first and 
lay on fat afterwards. He understands that, while no 
farmer would feed his pigs as these were fed, wrong 
feeding may, nevertheless, be practiced by many. He 
concludes, rightly, that if a pig or other young animal 
is malnurtured so as to modify its bones, muscle and 
vital organs ever so little, and the animal so affected is 
later used for breeding purposes, the descendants like- 
wise being malnurtured, the cumulative ill effects may 
in a few generations become very marked." 

Experiments conducted at the Utah station (Bulletin 
No. 70) demonstrated that the practice of scantily feed- 
ing pigs through one period of their growth and depend- 
ing upon heavy feeding to finish the preparation for 




A Well-Fatted Essex 









"X 


iii urn urn 'in 






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v. 














tak 


^^^IW£ 









An Attractive Essex Gilt 



FEEDING AND FATTENING 309 

market was distinctly unprofitable. Halts and setbacks 
in the steady progress of a r :g"V career will detract from 
me profit he may be expected to yield. This emphasizes 
the importance of providing the right kind of supple- 
mentary feeds 

SUPPLEMENTARY FEEDS 

Many feeds taken in connection with others are of 
greater importance than on their single merits. Corn 
feeding demands supplementary feed in order to bring 
down to the proper degree the excess of its peculiar 
qualities. Swine on pasture alone receive too much bulk 
and not enough direct nutriment, which needs to be 
supplied by supplemental concentrated feeds, if they are 
expected to fatten. These also furnish the variety re- 
quired by an omniverous animal. "The hog," says 
Henry Wallace, "is built more like a man, or the man 
more like a hog (we do not care how you put it), than 
any other animal on the farm; therefore, he needs 
variety. No man wants to live on an exclusive diet of 
fried mush, or roasting ears, or apple dumplings, or 
turkey and cranberry sauce meal after meal and day 
after day. He needs variety, and so does the hog." 

In finishing a fattening hog somewhat close confine- 
ment generally affords the best results, and in that case, 
again, supplemental feeds are of importance for the 
variety they will give. 

Satisfactory supplemental feeds are usually available 
on the farm, and ordinarily are not expensive parts of 
the ration. These, and the substitute feeds which must 
be considered in time of drought or at other times when 



IO 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



the main feeds are not easily available, are treated at 
greater length in other chapters of this volume. 

RESULTS IN FEEDING 

Study and comparison of the weights of pigs at va- 
rious ages, and the quantity of feed consumed and gains 
made under ordinary conditions, are of no value to the 
feeder. Averages of this character have been carefully 
made up by Professor Henry from his experiments at 
the Wisconsin station and from records reported from 
many trials at other state stations. He gives the fol- 
lowing- table regarding the average birth weight and 
weekly gains made by pigs before and after weaning: 



WEIGHTS AND GAINS MADE BY PIGS, BEFORE AND AFTER 
WEANING, WISCONSIN STATION 



Before weaning, 10 weeks, average 
of 12 litters, 86 pigs. 


After weaning, 7 weeks, average 
of 8 litters, 62 pigs. 


Week 


Average 

weight . 
Pounds. 


Gain. 
Pounds. 


Week. 


Average 
weight. 
Pounds. 


Gain. 
Pounds. 


At birth 

1 week 

3 weeks 

4 weeks 

5 weeks 

6 weeks 

7 weeks 

9 weeks 

1 weeks 


2.5 

4.4 

7.0 

9.8 

12.5 

15.6 

18.6 

22.6 

27.8 

33.1 

38 5 


1^9 
2.6 
2.8 
2.7 
3.1 
3.0 
4.0 
5.2 
5.3 
5.4 


10th week.. . . 
1 1th week.. . . 
12th week.. . . 
13th week.. . . 
14th week.. . . 
15th week.. . . 
16th week.. . . 
17th week.. . . 


41.5 
46.7 
52.0 
58.3 
64.2 
69.8 
76.5 
84.1 


S.2 

5.3 
6.3 
5.9 
5.6 
6.7 
7.6 



In commenting on these averages, Professor Henry 
said : "The heaviest pig in these litters weighed 3.6 
pounds at birth and the lightest 1.6 pounds, the average 



FEEDING AND FATTENING 



A\ I 



for the lot being- 2.5 pounds. During the first week after 
birth the pigs made a gain of 1.9 pounds. Overlooking 
irregularities, we may say that the pigs made a weekly 
gain of three pounds per head the fifth week after birth, 
four pounds the seventh week, and five and one-half 
pounds the tenth week. At the end of the seventh week- 
after weaning, when 1 19 days old, they were gaining 
more than seven pounds each weekly, or over a pound 
a day." 

Professor Henry also collected the records of all 
the American experiment stations relative to weights 
and gains of pigs and the feed consumed so far as pub- 
lished prior to the compilation of his book in 1897, em- 
bodying in that work practically all the data recorded 
in America "up to that time on the subjects comprehended, 
and as summarized in the following table : 



WEIGHT, FEED CONSUMED AND GAINS MADE BY PIGS 
DATA FROM MANY AMERICAN EXPERIMENTS 







Num- 




Total 














ber 


Total 


Num- 


Average 


Feed 


Average 


Peed 


Weight 


Actual 


of sta- 


Num- 


ber of 


feed 


eaten per 


gain 


for 100 


of pigs 


average 


tions 


ber 


ani- 


eaten 


100 lbs. 


per 


pounds 


in pounds. 


weight. 


report- 
ing. 


of 
trials. 


mals 
fed. 


per 
day. 


live 
weight. 


day. 


gain. 




Pounds 








Pounds 


Pounds 


Pounds 


Pounds 


IS to 50. 


38 


9 


41 


174 


2.23 


5.95 


.76 


293 


SO to 100. 


78 


13 


100 


417 


3.35 


4.32 


.83 


400 


100 to ISO. 


128 


13 


119 


49 5 


4.79 


3.75 


1.10 


437 


150 to 200. 


174 


11 


107 


489 


5.91 


3.43 


1.24 


482 


200 to 250. 


226 


12 


72 


300 


6.57 


2.91 


1.33 


498 


250 to 300. 


271 


8 


46 


2 ). 3 


7.40 


2.74 


1.46 


511 


300 to 350. 


320 


3 


19 


1()5 


7.50 


2.35 


1.40 


535 


350 to 400. 


378 


1 


5 


36 


8.52 


2.25 


1.98 


431 


400 to 450. 


420 


1 


5 


36 


8 . 1 S 


1.91 


1.71 


479 


450 to 500. 


471 


1 


2 


IS 


10.00 


2.12 


1 77 ■ 


562 



31 J SWINE IJSJ AMERICA 

CONSUMPTION OP WATER 

Data obtained in an experiment by the Indie na experi- 
ment station in 1900 were utilized by Rommel in com- 
piling a table to show the daily consumption of water at 
various weights. Different lots of pigs were respectively 
fed rations with food dry in the trough and with the 
grain mixed with equal weight and twice and three times 
its weight of water, and all the additional water desired 
was supplied. There were four pigs in each lot. The 
table on page 313 shows the results. 

Commenting on this table, Mr. Rommel says : "These 
figures show little difference in the consumption of water 
when feed was given dry and when mixed with an equal 
weight of water. The increase of the consumption of 
water with age is gradual, but not regular. The pigs 
that were forced to drink large quantities of water to get 
enough feed to satisfy hunger evidently drank more 
than they needed, if the figures of the dry grain lot are 
a criterion." 

CONFINEMENT AND INCLOSURES 

The area that fattening swine should have may be 
stated in general terms as any space sufficient to afford 
a reasonable number comfort, cleanliness, and the req- 
uisite degree of exercise; while any inclosure is too small 
that compels any hog or hogs to be filthy and uncom- 
fortable. If a considerable number are to be fattened, 
and the large, medium and small hogs can be fed by 
themselves, in different pens or lots according to size, 
and if not more than 15, 20 or 25 are kept together, they 
will be more peaceable, feed better, gain faster and be 





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314 SWINE IN AMERICA 

healthier than if huddled together indiscriminately to 
spend their time in disturbance and turmoil. 

Except with special facilities and resources experience 
has placed the maximum number for an average farm, 
under present conditions, at from 75 to 125 hogs. For 
the average farmer more than this number is more or 
less a venture into the field of speculation. Many farm- 
ers can, and do, raise more, but in such cases the practices 
and methods are very far above the average. "We have 
been raising hogs for 25 years," said Henry Wallace in 
1906, "and have found our maximum of profit with 
from 60 to 100 on the farm. Sometimes we have grown 
from 135 to 150, and invariably found that, while con- 
suming more corn and giving us more trouble, they gave 
us no more profit that if we raised from 75 to 100. 
When prices are high farmers are tempted to go beyond 
this number, and if they do not invite the disease known 
as 'cholera,' our observations are that something else 
comes in and robs them of their profit." With the best 
management it is found that not more than 40 head 
should be confined to less than an acre of ground. 

IMPORTANT FEATURES 

Whatever the number of animals to be fattened, or 
the season of the year, it is important that the inclosure 
in which they are kept and fed should have good surface 
drainage. If possible to secure it without danger of 
bringing down disease germs from other premises, there 
should be running water obtainable in such a way that 
the feed lots may not become miry, and without necessity 



FEEDING AND FATTENING 3I5 

for any of the animals drinking- from filthy sloughs or 
mudholes. If kept in dry lots or fed in pens the hogs 
should have, at least twice a day, as much clean water 
as they will drink, and as the foregoing recorded exper- 
iment of the Indiana station and the experience of prac- 
tical men amply show, this is no inconsiderahle quantity. 
In dry lots or in pens plenty of trough room should be 
provided. Whatever the feed may be, it should be given 
in such a manner that the hogs will be forced to eat as 
little filth as possible. When animals, to get their feed, 
must swallow as much mud and manure as grain only 
indifferent results may be expected. It is too frequently 
the practice to confine and feed 50 or more hogs on much 
less than an acre, where they are compelled to eat, drink 
and sleep in their own filth ; and after some months of 
this treatment surprise, entirely unjustifiable, is expressed 
because they are carried off by that ever-convenient 
scapegoat, ''cholera," or in some other manner inevitably 
become a fair quality of carrion. 

CHANGES IN FEEDING 

Any change during the feeding season should be from 
light to heavier and better fattening feed and never the 
reverse. The best gains are those which are steadily 
made, up to the end of the fattening period. When, by 
gradually increasing the quantity of fattening food, the 
hogs have become accustomed to it, they should be 
given at regular hours, early in the morning, at noon, 
and late in the evening, as much corn as they will eat up 
clean, but no more. This caution is applicable to all 



3l6 SWINE IN AMERICA 

other feeds as well as corn, although comparatively few 
hogs are fattened in the corn-growing regions except 
upon ear corn, and undoubtedly the time is far off when 
the case will be otherwise. All changes in character of 
feed should be rather gradual, and especially is this true 
when hogs are taken from grass or other bulky diet to 
be fattened on a more concentrated feed. Too sudden 
a change is sometimes attended with injurious effects, if 
not the loss of animals outright. 

Regularity as to times of feeding and quality and 
quantity of feed should be observed ; no animal should 
be fed so much as to be surfeited, and only so much feed 
should be given at once as will be entirely consumed, that 
all may come to the next meal with sharp appetites. The 
most perfect development does not depend so much upon 
the large quantity they can be made to consume as upon 
the quantity they properly digest and assimilate. Next 
to good food for the appetite a good appetite for the 
food is desirable, and should be carefully promoted ; the 
hog that refuses to eat, even for a single day, is set back 
in his fattening for two or three days, and sometimes 
much longer. The failure of a hog's appetite at any 
time denotes something seriously wrong with him and his 
surroundings, if not with the entire herd and its man- 
agement. 

The quantity of feed will vary somewhat, and usually 
in frosty and freezing weather more will be eaten to 
maintain the animal heat than when the temperature is 
higher and the atmosphere contains considerable mois- 
ture. Good feeding consists in giving every particle the 



FEEDING AND FATTENING 317 

hogs will eat, without leaving any, or cloying their ap- 
petites, and to maintain this intelligent care and close 
observation are necessary. The old saying that the lazy 
farmer who sits on the fence, watching his hogs until 
they are through eating, generally markets the heaviest 
pork is in exemplification of the rules of proper care in 
feeding. Quiet and comfort are indispensable to thrift, 
so dogs and boisterous boys should be kept away from 
the lots and pens. 

What has been said in the preceding chapter regarding 
the effect of warmth and shelter on the quantity of feed 
required by growing pigs applies with as much force to 
fattening hogs. Comfortable, sheltered beds, not too 
deep and dusty, are equivalent to a considerable amount 
of feed, as stock suffering from cold cannot thrive, and 
to warm them with grain, applied internally, is much 
more expensive than good nests and shelter, applied ex- 
ternally. From an experiment made at the Kansas agri- 
cultural college in 1882-1883, in which one lot was 
placed in the basement of a barn and another lot was 
kept in an open yard with a board fence on the north 
as the only protection, it was found that the pigs in the 
unsheltered lot required 25 per cent more corn to make 
100 pounds of gain than those which were sheltered. 
The test was with pure-bred hogs, weighing 200 to 250 
pounds each, and was carried on for ten weeks, begin- 
ning November 27, through weather ranging in tempera- 
ture from 12 below to 31 ° above zero, out-of-doors. 

Many farmers find it convenient to accustom their 
hogs to some particular feeding call which will bring 
them together, and sometimes they can be called thus 



31S SWINE IN AMERICA 

into places where it would be extremely difficult to 
drive them. 

In the corn growing sections autumn, with its mild 
weather, is the profitable season for making pork and 
lard, and shotes not intended to follow cattle fattening 
on grain, later in the season, should be far along in their 
maturity before severe winter weather sets in. When 
hogs approach a degree of fatness in which they find it 
difficult to get up and move about readily they will be 
fed longer at a loss, and the packer or the pork barrel 
should take them in. 



-el 



INCREASE IN FEED REQUIRED 

In experiments by Prof. G. E. Day at the Ontario 
agricultural college it was clearly shown, as has been 
done elsewhere, that the quantity of feed consumed or 
required per 100 pounds of gain increases rapidly with 
the weight of the hogs. His observations were made on 
36 different animals, with this showing: 

Increasing in live weight from 54 to 82 pounds, pigs 
required 3.10 pounds of meal per pound of gain. 

Increasing from 82 to 115 pounds, shotes required 
3.75 pounds of meal per pound of gain. 

Increasing from 115 to 148 pounds, hogs required 
4.38 pounds of meal per pound of gain. 

Increasing from 148 to 170 pounds, hogs required 
4.55 pounds of meal per pound of gain. 

Professor Henry gives data along the same line, com- 
piled from many experiments, especially valuable by 
reason of the large number of animals reported on. The 



FEEDING AND FATTENING 



319 



food consumed is valued at $1 per 100 pounds. This is 
Henry's table : 



FEED AND GAIN OF 



SWINE AT DIFFERENT STAGES OF 
GROWTH 











*o 




>. 


•a 






Weight of 


MS 
u 
£Ph 


«rj3 




i 


1? 




3*2 
c +2 


c 
.5 

aJa, 


c 

o.S 


w 


animals in 
pounds. 


Gj 


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p. 


IS to SO 


38 


9 


41 


174 


2.23 


5.95 


.76 


293 


$2.93 


SO to 100 


78 


13 


100 


417 


3.35 


4.32 


.83 


400 


4.00 


100 to 150 


128 


13 


119 


495 


4.79 


3.75 


1.10 


437 


4.37 


ISO to 200 


174 


11 


107 


489 


S.91 


3.43 


1.24 


482 


4.82 


200 to 250 


226 


12 


72 


300 


6.57 


2.91 


1.33 


498 


4.98 


250 to 300 


271 


8 


46 


223 


7.40 


2.74 


1.46 


511 


5.11 


300 to 350 


320 


3 


19 


105 


7.50 


2.35 


1.40 


535 


5.35 



SOME CASES OF LONG FASTING 

The ability of a hog to fast, or to live upon himself, 
in close, solitary confinement for long- periods is really 
very remarkable, and although not understood gen- 
erally, has frequent and striking illustrations. A few 
such that have been fully authenticated are as follows : 

Win. McBride of Randolph county, Illinois, July 15th, 
missed one of his fattening hogs weighing about 225 
pounds. More than 100 days afterwards it was found 
in a sink hole into which it had fallen. It weighed about 
50 pounds and was very weak, but soon recovered its 
normal strength and weight. 

A farmer of Polk county, Minnesota, missed a val- 
uable pig which three months later he found under the 
center of his straw stack. The pig "was too weak' to 
grunt, but alive ; a few days' feeding restored him and 



3-20 SWINE IN AMERICA 

now he is as fat and handsome as any of his breed, 
showing no signs of his long fast." 

Adam C. Camper of Princess Anne county, Virginia, 
had a 300-pound sow that became wedged between two 
straw ricks. "She was without food or water four 
months, and lost but 10 pounds." 

Charles Peter of Riley county, Kansas, owned a shote 
that was imprisoned in a crevice between two hay stacks 
43 days and emerged emaciated and weak, but healthy, 
when the hay was removed. 

A fat shote weighing 125 pounds belonging to Arthur 
T. Gladhill, of Smith county, Kansas, fell to the bottom 
of a dry well fourteen feet deep, where it remained for 
seven or possibly eight weeks. When found and taken 
out it was very weak, but could walk fairly well. It was 
estimated to weigh at that time between 50 and 6c 
pounds, and "its body resembled that of a greyhound 
more than that of a hog." Later it made a satisfactory 
growth. 

A farmer of Doniphan county, Kansas, owned a fat 
hog of about 375 pounds weight which was accidentally 
covered on November nth by the straw from a thresh- 
ing machine. January 29th, or 79 days later, the hog 
was found near the stack trying to walk, "which it did 
after a little practice." It weighed 150 pounds or less. 

A sow nearly ready to farrow belonging to James 
Laird, of Rickling, Essex, England, was accidentally 
covered up under a stack of barley straw, and remained 
there for 133 days. "A more emaciated creature it 
would be impossible to imagine. She was full of flesh 



FEEDING AND FATTENING 32 1 

when lost, but when discovered, her bones were barely 
covered by skin. All traces of the litter of pigs had 
disappeared. She is not able to stand yet, though 
gradually gaining strength; but it will be a long time 
before she regains her normal condition." 

HOGiS EATING COAL AND SAND 

Swine having access to it will eat soft (bituminous) 
coal, and under some circumstances devour inordinate 
quantities of it. The fact that they do this indicates 
that some ingredient their systems require is lacking 
from their ordinary food. Eaten too largely it tends to 
constipation, but a consensus of breeders' opinions is that 
in moderate amounts it is beneficial rather than harmful, 
and as a corrective, tonic or condiment its use should be 
commended. 

Sandstone or sand is sometimes eaten by hogs, and to 
an injurious extent. As with coal small quantities do 
no particular harm, but the fact that hogs crave such 
unusual substances as food suggests their need of a dif- 
ferent or broader diet. 

MISTAKES IT IS WELL TO AVOID 

A lifetime's experience as a raiser of swine has 
prompted a successful Kansas farmer to record a list of 
21 mistakes which he thinks others less experienced are 
liable to make — at least in part — and these being of such 
common occurrence and his counsel so pertinent they are 
presented here. He says : 

"It is a mistake for one inexperienced to undertake the 
business of rearing hogs unless he expects to make a 
study of it and to profit by his mistakes. 



322 SWINE IN AMERICA 

"It is a mistake for the farmer living- in town to trust 
the care of his hogs to the average hired man. He is 
not likely to make a success of it. 

"It is a mistake to try to raise hogs on an exclusive 
corn diet. You ask what kinds of feed to give them? I 
will ask you what kinds of feed can he produced on your 
farm and in your locality; then give them a variety of 
these, in such relation to each other as to meet the varied 
needs of the swine system. 

"It is a mistake to forget that the hog is a grazing 
animal. 

"It is a mistake if the hogs are not fed in a clean place, 
free from both dust and mud. 

"It is a mistake to overfeed or underfeed. 

"Ordinarily it is a mistake not to feed the liquid be- 
fore the solid food. 

"It is a mistake to feed constipating food with noth- 
ing to correct it. 

"It is a mistake to feed breeding stock as if you were 
fitting it for the market. 

"It is a mistake to feed all sizes together, when the 
smaller ones are at a disadvantage. 

"It is a mistake not to provide the herd with comfort- 
able quarters at all times. Failure in this will impair 
the usefulness of the feed. 

"It is a mistake not to have the pigs grow rapidly 
from birth to market. They should gain every pound 
possible on the way. 

"It is a mistake to feed the brood sow much corn be- 
fore farrowing. She should have cooling and laxative 
foods. 



FEEDING ANU FATTENING 



323 



"It is a mistake to feed her heavily for some days 
after farrowing. 

"It is a mistake to give her pigs sour food when they 
are learning to eat. 

"It is a mistake to fail to feed the pigs bone-and- 
muscle-forming materials during their growth. 

"It is a mistake to try to feed both the hog and the 
worms that may be in him or the lice that may be on 
him; the hog would tell you so if he knew how. 




A SELF-FEEDING DEVICE FOR EAR CORN OR ALFALFA 



"It is a mistake if hogs are not fed at regular in- 
tervals. 

"It is a mistake, as a rule, to feed for fat too many 
months before marketing. 

"It is a mistake to use high-priced feeds and then 
market at a loss. Figure your probable gain or loss and 
govern yourself accordingly. 

"It is a mistake for any feeder to think himself so 
wise that he cannot learn more." 



3~'4 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



A strong box with an opening of about 4 inches on 
each side next to the bottom, set on something which 
keeps it up off the ground, as shown in the illustration, 
makes an excellent feed receptacle to have in a pasture 
or elsewhere. It is not only useful for holding ear corn, 
but alfalfa or clover hay as well. 

A self-feeder for shelled corn or other like feed is de- 
scribed in Wallaces' Farmer by Charles Mason, of Cedar 
countv, Iowa, and an outline of it is given here. The 




MASON S SELF-FEEDER FOR SHELLED CORN 



bottom of the troughs is of 2-inch plank, and the sides 
are of grooved lumber. The roof and the sloping floor 
on the inside are of flooring, and the roof projects over 
the sides 2 feet from the plate. The corners are 3^ feet 
high from the 4x4s on which it is built, with a 2x4 plate 
to which the roof is nailed. The 4x4s project 12 inches 
at one end and serve as skids for hitching to when the 
feeder is moved. A floor 4 feet wide, not attached, is 
on each side of the feeder for the hogs to stand on when 
eating. The siding commences 2 inches above the floor 



FEEDING AND FATTENING 325 

of the troughs, and hinged doors forming part of the 
roof or cover afford openings for putting in the feed. 

MARKET CLASSES AND GRADES 

The farmer in selling his hogs to the local buyer or 
shipper is often at a disadvantage because of his in- 
ability to interpret market reports to the full extent of 
their meaning, and therefore either does not get what 
his stock is worth, or perhaps loses a sale through lack 
of the useful information he needs. Helpful to a better 
understanding of the market side of the business Wil- 
liam Dietrich of the Illiniois experiment station, in Bul- 
letin No. 97, explains how swine are classified and 
graded on the Chicago and other markets, as follows : 

MARKET CLASSIFICATION OF SWINE 

Classes. Subclasses. Grades. 

Prime heavv hogs, 

350 to 500 pounds Prime. 

I Heavv butchers, 280 to 350 pounds / Prime. 

\G00d. 
Butcher hogs, \ 

180 to 350 pounds. [Prime. 

Medium butchers, 220 to 280 pounds 1 \ Good. 

i Light butchers, 180 to 220 pounds.... I I Common. 

f Heavv packing, 300 to 500 pounds.. . . 1 [Good. 

Packing hogs, \ Medium packing, 250 to 300 pounds... > < Common. 

200 to 500 pounds. ( Mixed packing, 200 to 280 pounds. . . . ) [ Inferior. 

[ Choice. 

English, 160 to 220 pounds \ Light. 

I Fat. 

[Choice. 
I United States, 155 to 195 pounds.. . < Good. 

[ Common, 
Light hogs, \ ,. , 

125 to 220 pounds. I Good. 

I Light mixed, 150 to 220 pounds j Common. 

( Inferior. 

[Good. 

I Light light, 125 to 150 pounds \ Common. 

I Inferior. 

1 Chi lice. 

Pigs, 60 to 125 pounds \ Good. 

I Common. 



326 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



Roughs. 
Stags. 
Boars. 
Miscellaneous: 

Roasting pigs, IS to 30 pounds. 

Feeders. 

Governments. 

Pen holders. 

Dead Hogs. 



Mr. Dietrich describes the various classes substan- 
tially as follows : 



PRIME HEAVY HOGS 

These include prime, heavy, fat-back hogs represent- 
ing the extreme of the fat or lard hog type. "With the 
tendencies of the market working toward the lighter 
hogs, there are not very many of these heavy hogs at 
present ; however, there are still enough to make a mar- 
ket class." 




A SELF-FEEDER USED AT THE KANSAS PENITENTIARY 



BUTCHER HOGS 



These are commonly used for the fresh-meat trade 
and constitute about 25 per cent of the hogs coming to 
the Chicago market. Butcher hogs as a class are prin- 
cipally barrows, and range in age from six months for 
light butchers to one year for heavy butchers. "Other 
things being equal, barrows sell more readily and Rt 






FEEDING AND FATTENING ^2y 

better prices than do sows. In a drove of butcher hogs 
there may be present a few good sows without detract- 
ing from the value of the drove. Hogs that will grade 
as prime butchers, either heavy, medium, or light, must 
be perfect in quality, ideal in form, and must show much 
evidence of ripeness in condition as well as maturity." 

Good butchers, though not equal to prime butchers, 
are still very good representatives of highly developed 
hogs. "Compared with prime butchers, the good butch- 
ers may be slightly deficient in form, or a little lacking 
in quality or maturity, or may be lacking somewhat in 
condition." 

Common butchers are found only in the medium and 
light butcher classes. "The common butcher hog is one 
that shows considerable evidence of having been well 
fed, and possesses compactness, smoothness, and firm- 
ness. Frequently, however, he is not a mature animal, 
and is considerably more deficient in form, quality and 
condition that the prime butcher hog." 

PACKING HOGS 

Packing hogs are as a class of a poorer grade than are 
the butcher hogs, and include old brood sows and all 
other hogs heavy enough for this class and not good 
enough for the butcher hog class, except the very poor 
classes, such as roughs, boars and coarse stags. "The 
side pork from these hogs is used principally in the va- 
rious processes of curing. It is made into mess pork, 
short-cut mess pork, dry salt sides, and the hams and 
shoulders are cured. About 40 per cent of the hogs 



^j[> SWINE IN AMERICA 

coming to the Chicago market annually arc of this class. 
They range in age upward of about nine months. A 
200-pound packing hog is usually older than a 200-pound 
butcher hog." 

Heavy packing subclass includes the heavy hogs and 
medium packing the lighter hogs of this class. Mixed 
packing is a subclass representative of hogs as they come 
to the yards from local buyers in the country, including 
hogs of different classes as well as different grades and 
weight, as the name indicates 

LIGHT HOGS 

This class includes all hogs within the weight limits, 
125 to 220 pounds, except roughs, stags and boars, which 
form separate classes. "About 15 per cent of all the 
hogs coming to Chicago are of this class. They range 
in age from five to eight months. Since this class in- 
cludes practically all hogs within the given weight limits, 
they must necessarily be quite different as to form, 
quality and condition. Such being the case, the meat 
from the same is prepared differently, thus making the 
subclasses of more importance than in the two former 
classes." 

Breakfast bacon, as is well known, is cut from the side 
of a hog, and is prepared by salting the pork and then 
smoking. In some cases the hams and shoulders are 
sold separately, although much of the English bacon is 
cut into what is called a "Wiltshire side" ; i. e., the whole 
side, with simply the head and feet cut off. Many of 
the hops sold in the Chicago and other markets of the 



FEEDING AND FATTENING 329 

United States for bacon purposes are not of the ideal 
bacon type. The bacon hog must be "long in body, 
deep in side, with comparatively narrow back, narrow 
and light hams and shoulders, and light, muscular neck." 
This form is desirable because it is the side of the hog- 
that furnishes the best and most expensive cuts, and it 
is necessary to have as much as possible of this at the 
expense of the other parts. This hog must also show 
indications of having firm flesh, be well covered with 
lean meat or muscle, and must not have an excess of fat 
on the outside of the carcass. The fat on the outside 
should not be more than I to ij4 inches in thickness, and 
should be evenly distributed over the entire carcass. The 
weight must be between 160 and 220 pounds, as this 
makes the most desirable cuts as to size, flavor and firm- 
ness. From the very nature of a cut of bacon, size is 
of much importance. A hog smaller than the given 
weight would furnish a side of bacon that would be too 
thin, and one larger than this would furnish one that 
would be too thick. 

THE BEST AGE FOR A BACON HOG 

A hog old enough, that with good care and breeding 
will weigh from 160 to 220 pounds, furnishes bacon 
that is of the best flavor. A hog smaller than this would 
very likely be too young, and one heavier than this would 
be too old to furnish bacon of the best flavor. In firm- 
ness of flesh, also, the 160 to 220-pound bacon hog is 
likely to be most desirable. A hog younger than is re- 
quired to produce this size would have too much water 
in its flesh; for the younger the animal, the more water 



66' 



SWINE IX AMERICA 



it has incorporated in its system, and this excess oi 
water in the system oi the young hog not only detracts 
from the firmness of the flesh, but also replaces much oi 
the iood value, thus forming a meat that has less "sub- 
stance." When a hoy is heavier than 220 pounds, he 
is not sti good for bacon purposes, because when be- 
yond the aye required to produce this weight there is a 
greater tendency to lay on fat. not only on the outside 
oi the carcass, but also to intermix more fat with the 
lean meat, thus producing too much fat in proportion 
to lean meat for the best bacon. After this aye there 
is also more of a tendency to lay on tat unevenly and in 
patches, and where this occurs it is impossible to pro- 
duce good bacon. 

By the term choice, in reference to a bacon hog, is 
meant one that conforms as nearly as possible to the 
above description. It must have the form that is char- 
acteristic of this type of hog. ami must have the best 
quality and condition that is desired for the bacon trade. 

To be in good condition a bacon hog must have a 
good development oi lean meat or muscle, with the 
proper amount oi fat as outlined above. He must be 
smooth, well developed, and have a large proportion oi 
edible meat, while the proportion of fat and other offal 
must be small. Hams, shoulders, jowls, and neck must 
also be small in proportion to length and depth of side. 
If a hog has all these characteristics of form, quality 
and condition developed to a marked degree, he would 
be considered a choice bacon hog. 

It may be thought that the production oi bacon is 
possible only with certain breeds of swine and that these 



FEEDING AND FATTENING 33 1 

breeds will always produce bacon under all circum- 
stances. While this is true in a general way, it is not al- 
ways true. It is the feed and mode of life that pro- 
duces the bacon hog and that enables him to retain his 
form as such after he has been developed. 

The bacon-hog type of the United State> diff 
siderably from the English bacon hog, which lias re- 
cently been introduced into the United States and is 
rapidly establishing for itself a market class. There is, 
however, a growing tendency toward the typical bacon 
type. 

FEW BACON HOCiS IX AMERICA 

There is a demand on the markets of tin's country 
from foreign countries, and more largely from our own 
country, for bacon, and there being few bacon hogs to 
supply tlie demand, the trade is supplied from the lighter 
hogs of the fat or lard hog type. The bacon, however, 
does not command so high a price on the market as doe^ 
bacon from typical bacon hogs. The bacon hogs under 
consideration here weigh from 155 to 195 pounds, and 
range in age from six to eight months. They are simply 
hogs selected from the light hogs in general that conform 
as nearly as possible to the bacon type. They are not 
very fat, have fairly good development of muscle or lean 
meat, and are as long and deep inside as is possible to 
obtain them. About 20 per cent of the light hogs that 
come to the Chicago market are of this type. 

About 55 per cent of the light hogs coming to the 
Chicago market are said to be of the light mixed 1 ' 
a somewhat miscellaneous sort, quite similar, except as 



332 SWINE IN AMERICA 

to weight, to mixed packing hogs, and containing hogs 
of the light butcher weights that are too poor in quality, 
form and condition for butcher hogs, as well as hogs of 
the same weight as the bacon hogs, but which are too 
much of the fat or lard type hog for bacon. "This class, 
then, is the 'dumping ground' for the outcasts of two 
former classes of hogs. In one case it takes the poorer 
lings and in the other case the better hogs, considered 
from the fat or lard hog standpoint. Hogs of this class 
are used principally for the fresh-meat trade. They 
rang'e in age from five to seven months." 

It is stated that about 25 per cent of the light hogs 
coming to the Chicago market are of the light light 
class, which includes hogs ranging in age from five to 
six months and, as the name indicates, the lightest of 
light hogs. "While the 'light butchers' and 'bacon hogs' 
are the selected kinds of their respective weight "with con- 
sequent small variation between the different grades, the 
class of 'light light hogs' includes all the hogs of this 
weight, consequently the range in the grades is wider. 
They are used principally for the fresh-meat trade." 



PIGS 



Pigs, as found on the market, range in weight from 
60 to [25 pounds, and in age from three and a half to 
six months. This class, like that of light light hogs, in- 
cludes all the pigs that range within the given weights. 
"They are used principally to supply the demand from 
the cheaper restaurants and lunch counters, and are in 
greatest demand in winter, being hard to preserve fresh 



FEEDING AND FATTENING 333 

in summer and too young to cure. About 10 per cent 

of the 

class." 



of the hogs coming to the Chicago market are of this 



ROUGHS 

This class includes hogs of all sizes that are coarse, 
rough, and lacking in condition — too inferior to be 
classed as packing hogs or as light mixed hogs. "The 
pork from these hogs is used for the cheaper class of 
trade for both packing and fresh-meat purposes. In 
market reports pigs and roughs are frequently classed 
together, not because they belong in the same class, but 
because they sell at approximately the same price." 

STAGS 

"Stags are hogs that at one time were boars beyond 
the pig stage and have been subsequently castrated. 
They sell with a dockage of 80 pounds. If they are of 
good quality and condition and do not show too much 
stagginess they go in with the various grades of packing 
hogs. When they are coarse and staggy in appearance 
they are sold in the same class with boars. The inter- 
mediary grades sell for prices ranging between these 
extremes, dependent upon their freedom from stagginess 
and their quality and condition." 

BOARS 

"Boars are always sold in a class by themselves and 
bring from $2 to $3 per 100 pounds less than the best 
hogs on the market at the same time. They always sell 
straight, with no dockage. There are no distinctions as 
to grades; they simply sell as boars. Of course, if there 



334 SWINE IN AMERICA 






are marked differences as to quality and condition, the 
price varies a little accordingly. The pork from these 
animals is used to supply the cheaper class of trade, and 
also for making sausage." 

MISCELLANEOUS 

Roasting pigs are not generally quoted in market re- 
ports. They reach the market in small numbers and 
only during the holiday seasons, and their price varies 
greatly 

Feeders are hogs bought on the market and taken back 
to the country to be further fed, a practice which is 
followed only to a very limited extent. 

Governments are hogs rejected by the government in- 
spector as not sound in every respect. "They are usually 
bought up by a local dealer and taken to one of the 
smaller packing houses where they are slaughtered 
under the supervision of an inspector. If found to be 
affected so as to make their flesh unfit for human food, 
they are condemned, slaughtered, and tanked. The tank 
is a large, steam-tight receptacle, like a steam boiler, in 
which the lard is rendered under steam pressure. This 
high degree of heat destroys all disease germs with 
which the diseased carcass may have been affected. The 
product of the tank is converted into grease and ferti- 
lizer." 

"The commission men who sell the stock as it comes to 
the yards, and the speculators who handle part of it, pay 
nothing for their privilege of doing business in the yards. 
They hold their respective positions by common consent 
and their respective pens bv keeping hogs in them." 



FEEDING AND FATTENING 335 

These hogs are called pen holders, and have no influence 
on the market. 

Dead hogs are those killed in the cars in transit, and 
are used for the manufacture of grease, soap, and ferti- 
lizer. "If they weigh ioo pounds or over they sell for 
75 cents per ioo pounds. If they weigh less they fur- 
nish no revenue to the producer or shipper, the cost of 
handling the same being held equal to their value." 

About two-fifths of the world's hog supply is produced 
in the United States, and about six-sevenths of these 
are produced in the Mississippi valley; hence this section 
of the country has developed the fat or lard hog and 
lias set the standard for hogs in other parts of the 
United States. 

The fat or lard hog is such because corn has been his 
principal feed and because there has been a demand 
for pork from such a hog, and he will conform to the 
present prevailing type just as long as corn remains his 
principal feed. 

Butcher hogs are the best hogs from the fat or lard 
hog standpoint that come to market, and should be used 
as a standard for comparison. 

From the bacon market standpoint the English bacon 
hog is the ideal toward which hogs are being developed. 

To the close observer it is apparent that the gradually 
changing conditions brought about by the development 
of the United States, and the increase in the price of 
corn resulting from its varied commercial uses, cause the 
hog to be fed a more mixed and usually a more nitroge- 
nous ration. It is not improbable that this will in the 
future affect the type of the hog of the United States, 



33 6 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



so that it will more nearly approach that of the English 
bacon hog. 

An obvious deduction from the bulletin is the advan- 
tage of uniformity in the lots of hogs shipped to large 
markets, which conform to recognized classes. The chief 
purpose of the bulletin is to explain the system of grading 
or classifying hogs, in order that the farmer may under- 
stand the market side of the business more thoroughly 
and be better able to interpret the market reports. This 
classification is necessarily somewhat flexible in its ap- 
plication, depending upon individual judgment ; and, 
hence, there is greater opportunity for difference of opin- 
ion in the case of an uneven lot of hogs. In the higher 
grades especially uniformity is quite desirable, and a few 
inferior animals may bring down the price of the whole 
lot, as they injure its appearance. This lack of uniform- 
ity and the lack of condition is responsible for certain 
"mixed" classes which are made the dumping ground 
for the outcasts of the higher grades. Such mixed lots 
sell at a disadvantage. Speculators take advantage of 
this, buying several carloads, which they sort into vari- 
ous classes and resell at a profit because they are then 
properly graded. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Grains and Ground Feeds 

Throughout the greater portion of the hog raising 
territory of the United States, wheat and all other grains 
are valued as foods for live stock by comparison with In- 
dian corn, and their use is either as a balance for corn, 
or as a substitute in time of scarcity and high price. Out- 
side the corn growing territory the small grains generally 
form the basis of animal rations. In either situation a 
working knowledge of the values of various small grains 
for feeding swine may be the means of yielding a profit 
not to be despised. 

WHEAT 

Up to recent times the man who used his surplus wheat 
as a substitute for corn in stock feeding was an object of 
more or less criticism or ridicule by his neighbors and in 
the farm press. In 1893, however, an accumulation of 
wheat and a subsequent low price, coincident with a 
shortage of and high prices for corn in many states, in- 
duced many farmers to feed wheat to their live stock. 
The results and the experiments conducted since that 
time have made the feeding value of wheat much better 
understood and more generally recognized, and where a 
profit would accrue it has since been considered emi- 
nently proper to feed wheat to farm animals. 

337 



338 SWINE IN AMERICA 

Pound for pouna, wheat is about the equivalent of 
corn for producing pork. It is estimated that by ordi- 
nary farm methods an average of five pounds of wheat or 
corn are required to yield a pound of pork when either 
grain is fed by itself. Wheat, having more of the tissue- 
building elements, will give more lean meat than corn, 
and, hence, corn is preferred for fattening. Wheat-fed 
and corn-fed hogs appear to be equally well liked by the 
packer. The Armour Packing Company said in letters to 
the author in the winter of 1894-95 : "From the informa- 
tion we gather, most of the hogs we have killed this win- 
ter have been fed considerable wheat, and we find the 
quality of the meat is very satisfactory in every way. The 
percentages do not vary much except in the yield of lard, 
which is decidedly in favor of corn-fed hogs, but the 
meat from the wheat-fed hogs is firm, well streaked with 
lean, and particularly desirable for bacon and fancy 
cuts." The percentages referred to are shown in the 
table on page 339 which compares 86 hogs having an 
average weight of 248 pounds, fed on corn and slaugh- 
tered at Armour's November 3, 1894, with 71 hogs hav- 
ing an average weight of 251 pounds, fed on wheat, but 
no corn, since July, 1894, and slaughtered at Armour's 
(in both instances at the Kansas City plant) October 11, 

1894. 

Records kept by farmers as well as at the experiment 
stations have shown wheat to have a feeding value of $1 
per bushel when fed to pigs. P. D. Armour, Jr., made 
a test in 1894 with 18 pigs about four months old, feed- 
ing them wheat crushed and soaked 24 hours, and given 
three times a day, no other feed being used. The lot 



GRAINS AMD GROUND FEEDS 



339 



weighed 1,975 pounds on September 15, and by Septem- 
ber 29 they had consumed 1,650 pounds of the wheat and 
weighed 2,500 pounds, a gain of 525 pounds. Taking 
the market price for hogs at the time, five cents per 
pound, and the price of wheat, 53 cents per bushel, the 
value received for the wheat was $26.25, or a little more 
than 95 cents a bushel. The lot showed a weight October 



COMPARATIVE KILLING RESULTS FROM CORN-FED AND 
WHEAT-FED HOGS 





Corn-fed. 


Wheat-fed. 




Weights. 
Pounds. 


Per 
cent. 


Weghts. 
Pounds. 


Per 
cent. 


Ex. S. C Sides 


5,470 
1,990 
1,373 
1,148 
2,727 
2,015 
540 


25.64 
9.33 
6.44 
5.38 

12.78 
9.45 
2.53 


4,557 
1,639 
1,192 

860 
2,232 
1,336 

522 


25.58 




9. 19 


D. S. Shoulders 


6.69 




4.83 




12.52 




7.50 




2.93 






Total Cuts 


15,263 
1,525 


71.55 

7.15 


12,338 
1,405 


69.24 


Total Offal 


7.88 








16,788 
21,330 


78.70 


13,743 
17,820 


77.12 


Gross Weights 





13 of 3,060 pounds, or a gain since the preceding test 
of 560 pounds. They had consumed since September 
29, 1,638 pounds of wheat, and with the hogs at $4.90 
on October 14, they would have netted on the gain, 
$27.44, or a net price for the wheat of $1 a bushel. This 
showing may probably be taken as a fair average ; feed- 
ers' reports in the farm press have ranged from 65 cents 
to $1.38 a bushel as returns from feeding wheat to hogs. 



340 SWINE IN AMERICA 

While wheat may, on the whole, have a slight advan- 
tage over corn except as a finishing feed, the disparity in 
prices ordinarily makes it the more expensive. It is 
evident that wheat will not be used to any large extent in 
America as food for swine, except in years of extra- 
ordinarily low prices. In sections outside the corn- 
growing territory, where wheat may perchance be the 
cheapest feed, rye or barley is usually available as a sup- 
plement, together with clover, alfalfa, or other pastur- 
age. A good proportion when feeding wheat is two 
pounds of wheat to one pound of barley, fed coarsely 
ground and soaked sufficiently to saturate the meal 
thoroughly, and given in quantities varying according 
to the ag'e of the pigs, but not larger than they will clean 
up well. A mixture of two parts of rye, two of barley 
and one of wheat is excellent. In any event, wheat 
alone would not be best, and some other suitable feed 
should be provided with it. Where wheat is more 
readily available than corn the type of hog will more 
nearly approach the bacon demand, and corn will con- 
tinue to reign where the lard hog flourishes. As wheat 
possesses more of the growth-furnishing elements than 
of fattening material, compared with corn, it is of greater 
value for breeding stock and young pigs, when properly 
used. In the opinion of Prof. H. M. Cottrell, finish- 
ing on wheat has some tendency to make the meat tough. 

Experiments made at the Central experimental farm 
of Canada show that wheat ma)- be more or less damaged 
by frost without destroying its value as hog feed. 
Spoiled wheat — bleached, shriveled or sprouted — rejected 
or greatly cut in price at the mill, may be turned to 







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tr. 


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r. 




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<* 


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PQ 


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GRAINS AND GROUND FEEDS 34I 

good profit in pork growing". "The shriveled wheat," 
says one prominent writer, "is a more nearly balanced ra- 
tion than the perfect grain. The bleached wheat, while 
light in weight, has yet nearly the food equivalent of 
the sound wheat. Sprouted wheat has perhaps two- 
thirds of the feeding value of the wheat before it was 
sprouted. Millers will give little or nothing for these; 
therefore, feed them liberally to young, growing stock." 

WHEAT BRAN AND MIDDLINGS 

Wheat middlings or shorts has an important and 
recognized value as a feed, and economical if not too 
high in price. As with all milling by-products, it should 
be used in connection with corn or other feed. Mid- 
dlings, mixed with water enough to make an attractive, 
milky slop, and used with corn and pasture, makes a 
pleasing ration. With matured hogs one-third mid- 
dlings and two-thirds corn will give satisfaction, but 
with young, growing pigs, the mixture should be two- 
thirds middlings and one-third corn. 

Middlings is rich in protein, with a fair amount of ash, 
and lacks the crude fiber which lowers the feeding value 
of bran. Henry has said that "as a feed for swine at 
all periods of their development, middlings stands pre- 
eminent." Feeding experiments at the Maine station (Re- 
port of 1889) gave, with the same allowance of feed, 
twice the value to middlings as to wheat bran. Bran 
can be fed only in limited quantities because of the small 
capacity for bulk in the pig's stomach. 

Henry's compilation of experiments in "Feeds and 
Feeding" shows that middlings is superior to corn when 



34-' SWINE IN AMERICA 

fed alone, but that a combination of corn and middlings 
proves 20 per cent more economical than middlings 
alone. At a price around $25 a ton for middlings, it may 
ordinarily be considered an expensive feed. 

It should be stated that there is liable to be mis- 
apprehension as to the use of the word middlings, and 
that the meaning and analysis of this commodity as 
known at the time of preparing this volume and as 
understood, say up to twenty-five years before, are per- 
haps quite different. Prior to the manufacturing of 
flour by the present or "roller" process, middlings was 
a product in which there was retained a considerable 
portion of the wheat's flour, that the old buhr process 
of milling failed to separate from the outer or inter- 
mediate bran. This made a quite rich, and when wet, a 
very sticky mass or food. Millers say that under the 
present system of flour making there is practically no 
such product as the old-time middlings ; instead, what 
goes by that name is virtually but shorts or "mill-tail- 
ings," and commercially the terms "shorts," "middlings" 
and "shipstuff" now mean the same thing, which analy- 
ses show as having about the same food elements as 
bran (from the hard winter wheats), thus: Protein, 14 
to 17 per cent; carbohydrates, 54 to 57 per cent; fat, 4 
to 5 per cent. The same product from northern spring 
wheats is given a rather lower valuation and sells at $1 
to $1.50 less per ton. In spite, however, of what analy- 
sis shows, the present-day shorts, middlings or shipstuff 
sell in the markets for about 20 per cent more than bran, 
due, it is claimed, to the fact that the finely ground 



GRAINS AND GROUND FEEDS 343 

shorts make a more satisfactory slop for pigs than can 
be made of bran. 

KAFIR-CORN 

Two experiments were carried on at the Kansas sta- 
tion by Prof. C. C. Georgeson in feeding swine with red 
Kafir-corn meal. The first was planned to ascertain the 
relative feeding value of Kafir-corn meal, corn meal and 
ground wheat. Twelve shotes eight months old were 
selected for the test, and divided into three lots, consist- 
ing of one barrow and three sows each. The test con- 
tinued from December 2j to March 14. The feed, 
mostly, was wet overnight and each shote was given all 
it would eat, but no more. They were penned in a 
gloomy barn basement. From the results obtained the 
following conclusions were drawn : 

"In the comparison of wheat, corn and red Kafir-corn 
as fattening food for hogs, the wheat proved to be the 
most effective, followed closely by corn ; red Kafir-corn, 
although a good feed, was not equal in fattening qualities 
to either of the others. It required respectively 4. 11 
pounds of wheat and 4.38 pounds of corn to produce a 
pound of gain, while of red Kafir-corn it required 5.15 
pounds to produce the same result ; but it should be 
noted in this connection that the experiment was carried 
out during the coldest portion of the winter and that the 
hogs were confined strictly to these feeds. Under favor- 
able weather the results would doubtless have been much 
better, and in like manner, these grains might have given 
different results if fed in judicious mixtures with other 
suitable feed." 



344 SWINE IN AMERICA 

The second experiment was to test the value of Kafir- 
corn meal and soy bean meal in comparison with corn 
meal. Twelve pigs of Berkshire and Poland-China 
blood, weighing from 52 to yj pounds (average 63 
pounds) were full fed, three times daily, from November 
7 to March 12, with meal that had soaked overnight or 
longer. Owing to various circumstances, the original 
plan of the experiment could not be carried out, but 
from it all Professor Georgeson evolved this summary: 

1. Red Kafir-corn meal did not prove quite equal 
to corn meal as a fattening food. The poor gains of 
two of the lots were, however, in the main due to their 
inferior feeding qualities. The Poland-China gilt in one 
lot fed on Kafir-corn made a fairly good gain on this 
feed. 

2. A mixture of two-thirds Kafir-corn meal and one- 
third soy bean meal produced excellent gains. The soy 
bean meal apparently corrected the defects of the Kafir- 
corn meal in such a way as to make the mixture a de- 
sirable feed. 

3. A mixture of two-thirds corn meal and one-third 
soy bean meal gave slightly better results than Kafir-corn 
meal and soy bean meal. The conclusion to be drawn 
from this is that red Kafir-corn meal is not as good a 
feed for hogs as corn meal, but that when either Kafir- 
corn meal or corn meal is mixed with soy bean meal the 
results are highly satisfactory." 

The table on page 345 in reference to these two Kansas 
experiments is taken from "Feeds and Feeding," and the 
succeeding paragraph is Professor Henry's comment. 



GRAINS AND GROUND FEEDS 



345 



EXPERIMENTS IN FEEDING KAFIR-CORN MEAL TO PIGS 



Feed. 



First trial: 

Kafir-corn meal 

Corn meal 

Second trial : 

Kafir-corn meal 

Corn meal 

^Kafir-corn meal.. . ( 

i Soy-bean meal. . . J 

§ Corn meal \ 

i Soy-bean meal. . . J 



Number 


Average 


Dailv 






of 


weight 


gam 


Grain 




animals 


at be- 


per 


eaten. 




on trial. 


ginning. 


head. 








Pounds 


Pounds 


Pounds 


Pounds 


4 


1S3 


1.37 


2,180 


423 


4 


152 


1.70 


2,294 


523 


3 


63 


.50 


1,188 


191 


3 


64 


.80 


1,477 


306 


3 


62 


1.44 


2,166 


547 


3 


62 


1.46 


2,048 


554 



Grain 
6 ir 
100 

pound? 
gain 



Pounds 
515 
439 

621 
482 

396 



"The table indicates that Kafir-corn meal falls from 18 
to 33 per cent below corn meal in value for pig feeding. 
This grain, though rich in carbohydrates, lacks protein, 
and is therefore not suitable for feeding alone to young 
pigs. The advantage of adding some substance rich in 
protein to the ration of corn or Kafir-corn is shown in 
the last trial, where the soy bean meal materially in- 
creased the daily gain of the pigs, and cut down the re- 
quirements of feed for ioo pounds of gain in a marked 
degree. It is probable that if Kafir-corn were boiled it 
would prove more satisfactory." 

Kafir-corn alone is a very constipating food and hogs 
tire of it at times, especiallv young ones. However, E. 
H. Lupton, of Sheridan county, Kansas, who raises 200 
to 500 hogs annually, tells the author that he finds 
Kafir-corn fed dry to pigs two to five months old supe- 
rior to Indian corn, and that if necessary he would pay 
a premium to secure the Kafir-corn. To guard against 
constipation, using the Kafir-corn with some other food 



346 SWINE IN AMERICA 

of a laxative nature is recommended. Soy bean meal 
is excellent for this purpose. 

OATS 

When feeding oats unground there is generally the 
purpose of securing exercise, and, in that event, the grain 
is usually scattered on a clean feeding ground. Oats 
whole will give less satisfactory returns than when 
ground or crushed. In an experiment reported in Bulle- 
tin No. 23 °f the Central experimental farm of Canada, 
oats and corn were fed in comparison, being used whole 
and soaked 54 hours before feeding, skim milk supple- 
menting both. The average daily gain of the lot fed on 
oats was .87 pound, and of the corn-fed lot, 1.30 pounds. 
In commenting upon this test Rommel says in "The Hog 
Industry:" "This results of this test are not very favor- 
able to oats as a pig feed. To get even as economical a 
gain as could be had from corn, a feeder would have to 
get nearly twice as good gains as from the oats ; for, 
pound for pound of nutrient material, oats is about twice 
as expensive as corn." 

Experiments with ground oats have produced more 
favorable results. Professor Henry made trials of whole 
and ground oats at the Wisconsin station, concerning 
which he says in "Feeds and Feeding:" "The best re- 
turns were secured when feeding a ration consisting of 
one-third ground oats and two-thirds corn meal. Whole 
oats gave poorer returns than ground oats. The feed re- 
quirements for 100 pounds of gain in both trials where 
ground oats was used were very low, and show the high 
value of this grain for pig feeding when ground and fed 



GRAINS AND GROUND FEEDS 347 

in connection with corn meal." Supplementing- this, 
Professor Henry said in the Breeder's Gazette in 1902 : 
"Wheat and oats, half and half, probably form the best 
combination of grains that one can get for the growing- 
pig. For very young pigs, oat hulls are objectionable 
and should be removed by sieving. All waste so removed 
can be fed to other stock, and so nothing will be lost. 
As the pigs grow larger, their digestive tracts become 
more roomy and the woody matter of the oat hulls less 
objectionable — indeed, pigs not heavily fed should have 
sometning- in the feed to extend it or give it bulk, and 
a reasonable quantity of oat hulls is not objectionable." 

RYE 

Rye is an extremely heavy, concentrated feed, and the 
grain will usually g-ive best results when not fed to ex- 
ceed one-third of a ration. Rye and barley are con- 
sidered of about equal value in feeding for pork. In 
experiments on this line at the Copenhagen, Denmark, 
station, reported in "Feeds and Feeding," "the average 
of 11 experiments with no animals shows a daily gain 
of .865 pound for barley-fed pigs and .873 pound for 
those fed rye." The carcasses at slaughtering gave 
74.3 per cent dressed weight for the barley-fed hogs and 
75 per cent dressed weight for the rye-fed hogs. 

It is considered best to feed the hogs rye in ground 
form and in rather a thin slop, and some feeders main- 
tain that rye when fed dry makes a sticky mass in the 
hog's throat on which he is liable to choke. 

Rye is much esteemed in many sections as pasture, 
especially where the soils are rather light, and in such in- 



348 SWINE IN AMERICA 

stances "hogging off" is deemed profitable. Where the 
growth is rank or the weather wet, turning the brood 
sows and young pigs in the rye field ma_y cause some 
losses if the pigs find it difficult to keep up with their 
dams, and caution should be observed in their behalf. 
By "hogging off" rye on clay or other rather poor lands, 
the double advantage is obtained of feeding the hogs 
and distributing the straw and manure on the land in a 
way that is very excellent. An experience of a Ross 
county, Ohio, farmer, John M. Jamison, with rye pasture 
was given in the Country Gentleman as follows : "As a 
farm crop to be grown and harvested as wheat is, we are 
not much in favor of rye, the heavy straw being so dif- 
ficult to handle, and when we have a crop we prefer to 
let the hogs gather it. Our land being principally heavy 
clay, it is our aim to add all the humus we can to it, and 
we can use the heavy growth of rye straw to great ad- 
vantage for this purpose. When it is 'hogged down' 
it is left on the ground, evenly distributed, just as we 
want it. The same quantity of wheat straw would often 
smother the young clover or grasses sown in the rye, 
but we have never known rye to do so. We regard 
rye as the best of small grains to start grass crops in, 
the rye not having as dense a foliage near the ground 
as oats and wheat. Rye, when fully ripe, will straw- 
break 15 or 18 inches above the ground, the heads 
lodging on the bench formed by this breaking, keep- 
ing them off the ground and preventing decay of the 
grain. Again, it will not shatter as wheat will, nor 
does it, like wheat, decay on account of wet weather. 
These qualities make it valuable as a crop to 'hog 




Xtl 

% t 



H 

— 

K 

GO 

M 

- 



GRAINS AND GROUND FEEDS 349 

down.' We have heard of but one instance where shotes 
turned on it scoured. In this case the rye was very rank 
and probably frost-bitten; however, no bad results fol- 
lowed, and the shotes soon became accustomed to it by 
not being- allowed to remain on it too long at first. We 
would have no fears about turning on to green rye any 
time during the fall, winter and spring that there is suffi- 
cient growth and the land is in a condition not to 
be injured by trampling-. In its use from early growth 
to maturity, it is our impression that it is best to use it 
for pasture from the time that it will furnish a good 
feed on till it begins to joint, taking the stock off then 
and allowing it to perfect a crop of seed that can be har- 
vested by the growing hogs preparatory to a finish of 
four to six weeks on corn. 

"Some farmers regard it as wasteful practice to 
gather the crop in this way, but we do not so consider it. 
If harvested and profitably fed to stock of any kind, 
rye must be ground. If fed whole, dry or soaked, hogs 
will not masticate it properly on account of the hardness 
before soaking and its tough nature after soaking. But 
when feeding in the field they must also consume the 
chaff and stem of the head, which, with the grass they 
eat, makes digestion almost perfect. We have recently 
noted the condition of the droppings from our pigs, and 
we have seen no grains voided whole. By sowing rye and 
allowing the hogs to gather it, the farmer avoids the 
heavy expense attending the harvesting of a crop of 
wheat." 

According to the Danish experiments, returns from 
rye shorts are very unsatisfactory, both as to general 



350 SWINE IN AMERICA 

results and in the quality of pork produced. Professor 
Henry says of experiments at the Copenhagen station : 
"In comparing rye and barley or rye alone with rye shorts 
in three series of experiments, the grain alone always 
produced better results than equal mixtures of grain and 
rye shorts, and these mixtures were again better than rye 
shorts alone. The quality of the pork produced where 
rye shorts was fed was poor, especially where all rye 
shorts was given. The number of points for softness 
of pork increased rapidly with the feeding of rye shorts, 
and the classification of the carcass showed that a poor 
quality of pork was produced when this feed was given." 
In its chemical analysis, rye is very similar to barley, 
although slightly richer in protein. Extensive experi- 
ments in Denmark have shown the two to be almost 
equal in value for swine. But, although ground rye itself 
has given excellent results both in amount of gain and in 
the quality of the bacon, the by-products of rye milling, 
viz., rye bran and middlings, were found very preju- 
dicial to the quality of the product. 



HARLF.Y 






The favorable status of barley as a feed for pork 
production is well established, especially in the making 
of firm bacon. It is cultivated, somewhat, over a wide 
area, and in many sections of Canada, for example, is 
regarded as essential for making the highest quality 
of pork, if firmness and flavor are considered without 
regard to quantity or expense. Where corn is not avail- 
able, barley is held in high esteem, and in corn growing 



GRAINS AND GROUND FEEDS 35 1 

territory, when low enough in price, barley is an ex- 
tremely desirable additional feed. In the amount of pork 
it yields, corn is superior to barley, experiments by Pro- 
fessor Henry showing that barley is about 8 per cent less 
valuable than corn, measuring by pork produced and not 
considering cost. While not equal to corn, barley fur- 
nishes more protein and ash, making an excellent feed 
for building up the pig's structure. As a matter of fact, 
barley is of such importance in some parts of America 
that it should command from pork makers considerable 
more attention than it receives. It has not been relied 
upon to a great extent in America as the principal part 
of a hog-growing or fattening food, but the practice of 
Danish farmers and the results of experiments can very 
well be studied with profit by American farmers. The 
Danish bacon, which figures so prominently in the Eng- 
lish markets, is produced mainly with barley and dairy 
by-products. In experiments to determine the nature and 
causes of "soft" bacon, it has been found that the best 
bacon was produced by a ration in which barley was at 
least one-third of the whole. 

The grains of barley are so hard that, preferably, it 
should be ground or rolled, to aid digestion and save 
waste, and the ground feed should be soaked or made 
into slop. Swine require more water when fed on barley 
than on corn or corn meal, and they should not be neg- 
lected in this regard. Cooking seems to lessen rather 
than increase the feeding value of barley. 

Numerous experiments have been made in Canada in 
feeding barley to hogs, particularly from the standpoint 
of bacon production. The following paragraph from 



352 SWINE IN AMERICA 

Bulletin No. 51, of the Central experimental farm of 
Canada, "Bacon Pigs in Canada," summarizes the main 
conclusions reached : "In Europe barley is looked on as 
the ideal feed for fattening and finishing off bacon hogs. 
In Canada most experimental work goes to support this 
view. So favorably is it known, in fact, that it has prac- 
tically become a standard by which other foods are 
judged, so far as their value for bacon production is con- 
cerned. It should be used ground. Soaking for 24 
hours or longer before feeding will, in part, make up for 
lack of grinding. It is not a very good feed for suckling 
sows nor for very young pigs. It may be fed alone to 
advantage, but will give somewhat better results if 
ground peas, shorts or oil meal in small quantities or 
well-ground oats be added. It makes a prime cmality of 
bacon wherever other conditions permit." 

In the same bulletin details are given of an experiment 
made with two grade Berkshire pigs, which were fed on 
barley, beginning about January I. "The barley was 
given three times a day, chopped (coarsely ground) and 
mixed with water at the time of feeding. No more was 
given than would be eaten up clean at each meal. The 
results shown in the table on page 353 indicate that the 
barley in this experiment realized in pork 50 cents per 
bushel ; farmers at that time were selling the same grade 
of barley at an average of 25 cents per bushel, a differ- 
ence of 100 per cent in favor of feeding it." The pigs 
were purchased and sold at five cents a pound, live 
weight. The table shows that it took an average of four 
pounds and 1 t ounces of barley in the four months of 
feeding for the production of one pound of pork. 



GRAINS AND GROUND FEEDS 



353 



TABLE SHOWING RESULTS IN PORK PRODUCTION FROM 
FEEDING BARLEY TO TWO BERKSHIRE PIGS 





Amount 
of barley 
consumed 

each 
month by 
two swine. 


Gain 

in pounds 
of pork 

each 
month. 


Return 

per 

bushel 

of barley 

fed. 


Pounds 
of barley 

consumed 

for one 

pound 

of pork. 


Weight 

of swine 

at the 

end of 

month. 




Pounds. 
288 
335 
370 

341 


Pounds. 
83 
71 
65 
62 


Cents. 
69 
50 
42 
43 


Lbs. oz. 

3 7 

4 11 

5 11 


Pounds. 
200 




271 
336 


Fourth month 


5 8 


398 



In Bulletin No. 129 of the Ontario agricultural col- 
lege, entitled, "Bacon Production," similar conclusions 
are reached : "Barley is a noted hog food in Europe, but 
some feeders in this country do not look upon it with 
favor. We have secured excellent results from barley, 
however, both in the amount of gain and the quality 
of bacon. For young pigs it should be mixed with wheat 
middlings, a very little barley being used at first, and the 
quantity gradually increased. For older pigs, peas or 
wheat may be added. Some succulent food, such as roots 
or green food, should always be fed with it, and skim 
milk makes a great improvement. It is not generally re- 
garded with favor as a food for breeding sows." 

Barley will generally yield the most satisfactory gains 
when used as a portion of the ration. Used with roots 
it tends to overcome their laxative effect, and excellent 
results have been derived from this combination. Barley 
usually flourishes where alfalfa is found in abundance, 
and these two should combine admirably with other good 
feeds easily raised in the same locality for making first- 
class pork. Prof. H. M. Cottrell of the Colorado agri- 



354 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



cultural college says that in the district surrounding that 
institution (at Fort Collins) the average yield of bar- 
ley in 1906 was over two tons (71 bushels) to the acre, 
sufficient to produce more than 800 pounds of pork, and 
that in many of their alfalfa-growing sections where ir- 
rigation is practiced, alfalfa pasture will give 500 to 
1.000 pounds of pork per acre as a yearly average. 
Where these conditions exist corn is not ordinarily a 





FIELD PEA AND SOY BEAN PLANTS AND PODS 



staple crop, but the barley-and-alfalfa combination should 
make weight cheaply and give a high grade of pork. 

Experiments made to compare barley with corn have 
been summarized by Rommel in Part II of Bulletin No. 
47. U. S. Bureau of Animal Industry. They show re- 
sults from feeding corn and barley, both whole and 
ground ; the barley in a majority of the experiments 
cited in the table herewith having been used in con- 
nection with skim milk: 



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355 



356 SWINE IN AMERICA 

FIELD PEAS 

The field or Canadian pea is extensively grown in 
Canada (in fact, is one of Ontario's most important crops 
for meat making), and somewhat along the northern 
rim of the corn belt, and in the mountain states to the 
westward, as a food for swine and other stock, where it 
is a substitute for corn. In Colorado there is much en- 
thusiasm over the prospects of an extensive and profit- 
able swine husbandry there, made possible by the adapta- 
bility of the field pea. Used with judgment, the peas, 
with their abundant protein, supply an excellent food for 
swine at all stages of development. On account of its 
sodden character, pea meal is too heavy to be fed as the 
exclusive grain allowance, and Professor Henry says it 
should be lightened, by mixing with wheat bran, ground 
oats or corn meal. Prof. Thomas Shaw, who knows 
them well, says peas are superior to corn as a food for 
pigs at any time prior to the fattening season ; hence 
they may be fed to swine more freely, but in no instance 
should they form the sole ration before the finishing 
period begins. "During the fattening period they are 
unexcelled when fed as the sole grain food. They pro- 
mote growth, while they fatten in excellent form, and 
they furnish a sweet, firm and excellent quality of pork. 
Grown in conjunction with some other kinds of grain, 
peas are of great value as a soiling crop, owing to the 
larger yields obtained (from 10 to 20 tons per acre may 
be expected on average soils) ; to the high nutritive value 
of the food, combined with its palatability and because of 
its timeliness. This crop is ready as soon as the spring 



GRAINS AND GROUND FEEDS 357 

grasses begin to fail, and it may be made to continue 
in season until corn is ready." 

J. H. Grisdale, of the Central experimental farm of 
Canada, says peas are "undoubtedly of very high value 
as a feed for the production of good, firm bacon, and 
for young pigs and breeding stock of all classes at prac- 
tically all times. They should, however, never be fed 
alone, and should always be ground. Pigs fed on pea 
meal alone do not thrive, do not get fat, and produce a 
very inferior quality of meat, dry and hard." 

Pea feeds, under various names, are by-products of 
prepared-food factories, and vary in composition. Some 
of them are equal to pea meal in feeding value, while 
others are of little account. 

SOY BEANS 

Soy beans are not commonly used in pork production, 
doubtless owing to lack of knowledge of their character- 
istics and value. While they have been grown to some 
extent for several years, only recently has their value 
to pork makers been understood. At least four experi- 
ment stations have made tests with soy beans for hogs. 
All report favorably. The trials at the Indiana station, 
taken with the results of other experiments, are con- 
vincing arguments as to the efficiency of the seeds of 
this legume when fed with corn to swine. Soy beans 
contain 29.6 pounds of digestible protein to the ioo 
pounds of beans, and pigs fed on them grow rapidly. 

At the Indiana station, J. H. Skinner made experi- 
ments (Bulletin No. 108), with four lots of four pigs 
each, averaging 55^ pounds, covering 12 weeks, fed 



358 SWINE IX AMERICA 

meals wet with water to a medium thick slop; first, to 
determine the value of soy beans as a supplement to corn 
in pork production and to encourage farmers to grow 
their own protein for hogs; second, to compare soy 
beans with wheat middlings and tankage as supplements 
to corn, and add new data to previous experiments with 
these feeds ; third, to emphasize the deficiency of corn 
as a sole ration for pork production and point out more 
economical methods of feeding and utilizing corn. 

The test showed that it required less feed per 100 
pounds gain where soy beans were fed than in any other 
ration considered, wdiile in this lot the gains, 402 pounds, 
were 120 per cent greater than the gain in the corn-fed 
lot and 10 per cent more than the gain in any other lot 
in the test. The pigs fed more uniformly and developed 
more evenly than any one of the other lots. The Kansas 
station reports uniformly successful results from the use 
of soy beans in connection with Kafir-corn and Indian 
corn. A resume of the results there shows a gain, 
where pigs received soy beans as a supplement, varying 
from 14.6 to 18 r. 7 per cent over corresponding lots fed 
corn or Kafir-corn alone. 

"Indiana swine growers," says Professor Skinner, 
"would do well to investigate the merits of soy beans. 
They can be easily grown and will furnish a home-grown 
supply of protein in a very desirable form. Farmers will 
find them to be a very valuable adjunct to corn as shown 
by results. A yield of 20 bushels per acre means ap- 
proximately 360 pounds of digestible protein, while 20 
bushels of wheat per acre would yield 120 pounds of 
digestible protein. Another point in favor of soy beans 




< c 

o ° 

- 
s 

M 

- 
pq 




Front of the Kansas-Bred Berkshire Boar, 
Field .Marshal 103300 

The Berkshire breeder's ideal 




Front of the Kansas-Bred Berkshire Boar, 
Berryton Duke, Jr., 77341 

Considered near perfection 



GRAINS AND GROUND FEEDS 359 

is the power which the growing plant possesses of obtain- 
ing nitrogen from the air. They make first-class forage 
if harvested at the proper time; they are easily grown, 
are productive, bring nitrogen to the soil, withstand 
drouth well, are rich in protein and fat, and furnish an 
efficient food to combine with corn in pork production." 
Among the general conclusions presented by Professor 
Skinner are these : 

1. Soy beans proved to be a very valuable adjunct 
to corn, being the most efficient feed tested. 

2. Pigs fed a ration of one part soy beans to two 
parts of corn produced two and one-fifth times as much 
gain in the same length of time as did those receiving 
corn only. 

3. It required 310.6 pounds of feed per 100 pounds 
of gain where one-third of the ration was soy beans, 
while it took 557.1 pounds per 100 pounds gain where 
corn alone was fed. 

4. Comparing the soy bean ration with the middlings 
and tankage rations, the amount of feed required per 100 
pounds gain stands: Soy beans and corn, 310.6; mid- 
dlings and corn, 343.4; tankage and corn, 330.6 pounds. 

5. Corn meal alone was shown to be very inefficient 
as a pork producer. 

6. The pigs receiving a ration of one-third soy bean 
meal and two-thirds corn meal produced 402 pounds 
gain. A ration of one-half middlings and one-half corn 
meal produced 365 pounds gain. One-sixth tankage and 
five-sixths corn meal produced 348.5 pounds gain, while 
a ration of corn meal alone produced only 183 pounds 
gain. Stated in another way, corn meal alone produced 



360 SWINE IN AMERICA 

less than one-half the gain made by a ration of one-third 
soy beans and two-thirds corn, one-half as much as mid- 
dlings and corn, and but little more than one-half as 
much as tankage and corn. 

7. Corn meal alone impaired the digestive capacity 
of the pigs as shown by the feed consumed, which was 
3 jo pounds less than any other lot consumed. 

8. The longer the pigs were fed on corn alone the 
more inefficient it became, requiring 12 19 pounds feed 
per 100 pounds of gain during the last week of the test 
against 500 pounds the first week, and an average of 
557 pounds. 

9. Corn meal alone produced poor appetites, light 
bone, deficient development in valuable portions of the 
carcass, and a general state of unthrift as shown by the 
hair, skin and hungry look of the animals. 

10. The gains on pigs fed under the conditions of 
this test cost $5.01 per 100 pounds where corn meal 
alone was used, $3.44 with one-half corn meal and one- 
half middlings, $3.59 in the lot receiving two-thirds 
corn meal and one-third soy bean meal, and $3.71 where 
five-sixths corn and one-sixth digester tankage was fed. 

In Indiana Bulletin No. 126 Skinner records a test in 
which two lots of four 84-pound pigs were fed 70 
days — one lot on five parts corn meal and one part lin- 
seed meal and the other lot on five parts corn meal and 
one part soy bean meal. The cost of the feed was fig- 
ured at $18 per ton for corn meal and $30 per ton for 
the linseed and soy bean meal. The cost of 100 pounds 
of gain on the linseed meal lot was $3.82, and on the soy 



GRAINS AND GROUND FEEDS 361 

bean lot $3.46, a showing- decidedly in favor of the lat- 
ter. The percentage of protein in the two meals is 
practically the same. 

Three different trials were made at the Wisconsin sta- 
tion (Annual Report, 1906) to compare the value of 
soy bean meal and wheat middlings as a supplement to 
corn for growing - and fattening swine. A summary of 
the conclusions to which these tests led, as given by Pro- 
fessors George C. Humphrey and J. G. Fuller, is : 

1. Soy bean meal makes an excellent supplement to 
corn meal for growing and fattening pigs. 

2. Soy bean meal is from 8 to 10 per cent more 
valuable than wheat middlings for economical pork pro- 
duction when the cost of the two feeds is the same. 

3. Soy bean meal mixed with corn meal in the pro- 
portion of 1 .2 produces greater gains than wheat mid- 
dlings and corn meal in the same proportion. 

4. In feeding equal amounts of the two rations, soy 
beans and corn meal supply a slightly higher per cent 
of dry matter and digestible matter than wheat middlings 
and corn meal. 

5. For firmness, fine grain and texture of flesh, and 
even distribution of fat and lean, the ration of wheat 
middlings and corn meal is superior to that of soy beans 
and corn meal. 

As to the flesh of the test hogs when dressed, the re- 
port gives these observations : "The first difference noted 
in handling the carcasses was the soft and flabby condi- 
tion of the lot fed corn meal and soy bean meal, and the 
firmness of flesh of the lot fed corn meal and wheat mid- 
dlings. 



362 SWINE IN AMERICA 

"The amount of meat in the carcasses of the lot fed 
corn meal and soy bean meal did not appear to be much 
greater, if any, than that in the carcasses of the lot fed 
corn meal and wheat middlings. The muscular flesh of 
the latter, however, was of a bright cherry red, with a 
fine grain, which, together with its firmness and nicely 
marbled condition, made it a better quality of pork for 
the block. The flesh of the former lot was pale red, 
and the fat was not so well mingled witli the lean, but 
seemed to be deposited beneath the skin in a superficial 
manner. From all that could be judged from viewing 
the cuts with the naked eye, the ration of corn meal and 
wheat middlings was superior to that of corn meal and 
soy bean meal for producing a good quality of pork." 
EMMER AND SPEI/TZ 

Emmer, sometimes miscalled spelt or speltz, is a drouth 
and cold-resisting variety of wheat from Russia, raised 
to a limited extent for stock food in the Dakotas and 
other northwestern states. Recorded tests of its value 
for swine are few. The South Dakota station (Bulletin 
No. 100) fed different lots of 250-pound hogs 44 days 
on whole "speltz," ground "speltz," and "speltz" and 
corn. The feed consumed to make each pound of gain 
was for the lots as named, 7.71, 8.26 and 5.29 pounds, 
respectively. The cost per pound of gain in each lot as 
named was 4.6, 5.5 and 3.5 cents, respectively. It is 
seen that when the grain was ground, the consumption 
was not only greater, but it required .55 of a pound more 
grain to make a pound of gain. At the same station the 
gain on hogs following fattening steers fed on "speltz" 
as their grain ration was small. 



GRAINS AND GROUND FEEDS 



363 



BUCKWHEAT 

Buckwheat, in most localities, usually commands a 
price which makes it less profitable as a swine feed than 
other grains, but when it may be used advantageously 
it is found to have considerable value, although some- 
what less than wheat. Buckwheat has been fed exten- 
sively in some sections of the north, especially Canada. 
The middlings from buckwheat, when obtainable, makes 
an excellent feed, but the bran is of little value. 

Comparative feeding tests made at the Ottawa experi- 
ment station (annual reports of 1894 and 1895), in the 
feeding of buckwheat and wheat, ground and in mix- 
tures, showed that six pounds more were needed in the 
buckwheat mixture than in the wheat mixture for pro- 
ducing 100 pounds of gain. In the first trial detailed in 
the following table, five pigs in each lot were fed 77 
days. A second trial lasted 140 days, and was made 
with six pigs in each lot. The meal was soaked for 30 
hours before using in every instance. The details of the 
two trials were as shown : 



COMPARATIVE FEEDING VALUES OF BUCKWHEAT AND 

WHEAT 



Kind of Feed. 


Average 
weight 
at be- 
ginning. 


Feed 
eaten. 


Gain. 


Feed 
for 100 
pounds 

gain. 


First trial : 


Pounds 
103 
97 

45 
49 


Pounds 
2,109 
1,272 

3,238 
2,463 


Pounds 
474 
310 

800 
649 


Pounds 
445 




410 


Second trial : 

One-half ground buckwheat; one-half a 
mixture of barley, rye, wheat, and 


405 


One-half ground wheat ; one-half a mixture 
of barley, rye, wheat, and wheat bran.. 


380 



364 SWINE IN AMERICA 

MIL.LET SEED 

Prof. James W. Wilson, at the South Dakota station 
( Bulletin No. 83 ) , made tests extending through 84 days 
with six Yorkshire pigs divided into three lots, to ascer- 
tain the feeding value of millet seed as a swine food in 
comparison with wheat and barley. All three grains were 
ground before feeding. The results justified the con- 
clusion that millet seed does not furnish as good a ration 
for swine as either barley or wheat; it required 20 per 
cent more millet than it did barley, and a trifle more 
barley than it did wheat to make a pound of gain; a 
bushel, or 56 pounds, of millet seed is equal for hog-feed 
to 48 pounds of barley; it is not so good a fattening feed 
in extremely cold weather as barley or wheat meal, and 
it produces a softer quality of fat than barley or wheat. 

The color of the lean meat in the millet and wheat 
lots was lighter than that of the barley lot. "The fat 
on the wheat and barley carcasses was several shades 
darker than the fat made from millet ; in fact, it had a 
yellow tinge not noticeable in the millet lot, while the 
color of the fat on the carcasses that had been fed millet 
was pure white, and was pronounced by the local butcher 
as being of superior quality to that of the other carcasses, 
although not so firm in texture/' 

"On account of being so well adapted to the conditions 
there," says Professor Wilson, "and so palatable a feed, 
millet should have a place in the rotation of crops on 
every stock farm in South Dakota." 

ADULTERATED GROUND FEEDS 

The temptation to meet the demand for a low-priced 
feed by utilizing by-products has not infrequently led 



GRAINS AND GROUND FEEDS 365 

to the mixing- of hulls or sweepings with what would 
otherwise he a meritorious article. It should he re- 
membered that the experiments with shorts or other 
ground feed or by-products have been with a product <••' 
good grade, and not one that has been used as a medium 
for working off otherwise unsalable material. Mid- 
dlings, for example, has sometimes been found to con- 
tain sweepings and bran reground. As a rule, feed of 
this character is not economical. 

BURNT OR FROSTED GRAINS 

Occasionally, when a large elevator burns in which 
much grain is stored, the damaged contents are thrown 
on the market at a low price for hog-feed. Instances 
have been reported where wheat damaged in this way 
has been fed satisfactorily to hogs after it was re- 
covered from a burned elevator, and, so far as the author 
has been able to discover, no reports have been made 
of injurious results from its use. It is not safe, how- 
ever, to conclude that such feed may always be used 
with impunity. While the nominal price at which grain 
may usually be secured following a fire may make the 
opportunity seem attractive, it is well to use caution. A 
fair trial will sometimes determine whether the damaged 
grain may be safely used, and ordinarily a sample may 
be sent to the director of the nearest experiment station 
and his counsel obtained as to the advisability of its use. 

Grain injured by frost while yet immature, or known 
in Canada as "frozen wheat," has been fed without ap- 
parent ill results. Bulletin No. 51 of the Central ex- 
perimental farm of Canada, gives the following ex- 



366 SWINE IN AMERICA 

perience : "Some years ago frozen wheat was available 
in considerable quantities and was quite extensively used 
as feed. It was found to be very valuable for bacon pro- 
duction. The meat was of good quality and was pro- 
duced at the rate of one pound, live weight, from four 
and one-half to five and one-half pounds of the frozen 
wheat." The details of the experiments are tabulated in 
Bulletin No. 33 of the Central experimental farm. 

The North Dakota station (Bulletin 84) found that in 
comparison with corn it requires 8.9 per cent more "re- 
jected" wheat than corn to produce the same gains. 

Damaged grain may often have but little market value, 
thereby offering the swine-feeder a serviceable feed at a 
low price; but local conditions will have much to do 
with determining whether or not it is advisable to utilize 
material of this sort. 

FLOUR AS A FEED 

Low-grade flour may sometimes be available for feed- 
ing, although, as a rule, inferior grades of by-products 
will be obtainable at comparatively lower prices. Pro- 
fessor Henry shows, in "Feeds and Feeding," that the 
nutrients in low-grade Hour vary but little from those in 
flour of higher grade. This low grade of flour is occa- 
sionally designated as "feeding flour," "red dog," and by 
other special names. 

The Virginia experiment station (Bulletin No. 167) 
reports profitable results from feeding red dog with corn 
meal. The method of feeding is described as follows: 
"In the test where red dog, which is a low-grade flour 
relatively rich in protein, was combined with an enual 



GRAINS AND GROUND FEEDS 367 

amount of corn meal and fed wet, a gain of .89 of a 
pound per head per day was obtained with seven months 
animals. When this same food was soaked 12 hours the 
gain was at the rate of 1.28 pounds per head per day, 
which showed a marked advantage in favor of the 
soaked food. Where red dog was used, unsoaked, the 
amount of food consumed per head per day varied from 
4.3 to 4.9 pounds. The cost of a pound of gain where 
red dog and corn meal were soaked, was 4.34 cents ; 
when unsoaked, 5.42 cents." Nineteen pigs were used 
in each of the two groups, and the cost of red dog was 
figured at $27.50 a ton. 

"STOCK FOODS" 

In view of the many condimental, proprietary, or 
patented "stock foods" everywhere on sale, and the won- 
derful claims advertised by their manufacturers as to the 
worth and importance of their goods to stockmen, Prof. 
F. W. Woll, chemist of the Wisconsin experiment station 
(Bulletin No. 151), made a series of investigations to 
learn the ingredients, effects and probable original cost 
of a large number of the "foods" kept most prominently 
before the public. Their ingredients were found to be 
mainly, in greater or less proportions, wheat and corn 
offal, bean or pea hulls, corn meal, oil meal, mustard 
hulls, common salt, epsom salt, glauber salt, charcoal, sul- 
phur, pepper, fenugreek, saltpeter and lime. The average 
cost of the drugs entering into the compounding of the 
"foods" is apparently not above ten cents per pound, and 
the price at which the foods are sold to farmers ranges as 




A Berkshire Sow, as Portrayed in 1870 




A Poland-China Boar, as Portrayed in 1870 



GRAINS AMU GROUND FEEDS 369 

high as 25 cents per half pound, or at the rate of $1,000 
per ton. Professor Woll's summing up of the patent 
stock food situation is this : 

"The evidence at hand goes to show that there is a 
practical unanimity of opinion among scientific men in 
public positions who have given the subject special study 
in regard to several points connected with condimental 
stock foods : 

"First, they are of no benefit to healthy animals when 
feci as directed, either as to increasing the digestibility 
of the feed eaten or rendering it more effective for the 
production of meat, milk, wool, etc. 

"Second, they are of no benefit as a cure-all for dis- 
eases of the various classes of live stock; neither do they 
possess any particular merit in cases of specific diseases, 
or for animals out of condition, off feed, etc., since only 
a small proportion of ingredients having medicinal value 
is found therein, the bulk of the foods consisting of a 
Tiller which possesses no medicinal properties whatever. 

"Third, exorbitant prices are charged for these foods, 
as is natural, considering the extensive advertising the 
manufacturers are doing, and the liberal commissions 
which they pay agents and dealers. The large sales of 
stock foods are doubtless mainly to be attributed to these 
facts. 

"Fourth, by adopting a liberal system of feeding farm 
animals and furnishing a variety of feeds, good results 
may be obtained without resorting to stock foods of any 
kind. If a farmer believes it is necessary to feed stock 
foods at times, he can purchase the ingredients at a drug 



3/° 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



stoic and make his own stock foods at a fraction of the 
prices charged for them by the manufacturers. He will 
then have the additional satisfaction of knowing just 
what he is feeding-, and of feeding a concentrated 'food' 
instead of one largely diluted with non-medicinal ingre- 
dients." 



CHAPTER XV. 

Feeding By-Products 

Besides the milling products, already discussed, there 
are other commercial by-products of more or less im- 
portance and value. As most of these are concentrates, 
they are used as supplements to the main feeds, partic- 
ularly corn, and in recent years several such have fully 
demonstrated that they are of worth, although formerly 
their constituents were not regarded as feeding material 
or practically of much value. The mills and packing 
houses have recognized in the hog's ability to make pork 
from waste and offal an opportunity to turn into money 
much that might otherwise be of little worth. 

The main by-products from grains have been treated 
in Chapter XIV, and those coming from the dairy are 
discussed in Chapter XVII, so that, with a few excep- 
tions, this chapter is given over to those from the oil 
mills, packing houses, sugar factories and breweries. 
Most of these have not had as long trials as the products 
of the flouring mills, but the volume of the latter pre- 
viously available for swine has been lessened by the in- 
genuity displayed in the manufacture of foods and ma- 
terials for consumption through other channels 

GLUTEN FEED 

Gluten meal and gluten feed are accredited as in- 
ferior to corn meal, using skim milk as a feeding base, 

371 



37 2 SWINE IN AMERICA 

but as somewhat superior to wheat meal. Gluten meal 
has neither the germ nor the hull portions of corn; it is 
the protein section of the grain, and contains more pro- 
tein and fat than any other corn product, but is very low 
in mineral matter. Corn bran and gluten meal mixed 
and ground constitute gluten feed, which is rich in pro- 
tein, but possesses more bulk than the gluten meal. Corn 
bran is the hulls of the corn grain, and, by itself, has 
little feeding value. Gluten meal is a very concentrated 
feed, not economically fed alone, and should form but 
part of a ration. It may be mixed with corn or corn meal 
for fattening, and, for growing hogs and brood sows, 
with some feed that will supply bulk, and should be 
soaked before using. Gluten feed may be used without 
other mixture as a growing food, but if given to fatten- 
ing hogs, it should go with corn meal or other feed. 

The Cornell University experiment station used gluten 
meal in comparison with corn meal, both with separator 
skim milk, on four lots of four pigs each, beginning 
in February. The following results were printed (Bulle- 
tin No. 199) : "The object of the experiment was to de- 
termine the relative value of corn meal and gluten meal 
when fed along with separator skim milk. The pigs 
were so divided that two lots should contain the large 
pigs for comparison, and two lots the small pigs, so that 
the large ones should be compared with each other and 
the small ones with each other. In arranging the ra- 
tions for the various lots those fed gluten meal were 
put upon a relatively narrow ration and those fed corn 
upon a ration which was very close to the theoretical 
standard. In both cases where corn meal was used with 



F i:i:i UN G BY-PRODUCTS 



0/0 



the milk the cost per pound of gain was less than where 
gluten meal was used. The actual amount of dry matter 
consumed per pound of gain was less where corn meal 
was fed than where gluten meal was fed. These re- 
sults, secured when corn meal was worth $14 per ton and 
gluten meal only $11.75 per ton, point very strongly 
to the conclusion that in feeding large quantities of 
separator skim milk to young, growing pigs, more eco- 
nomical gains can be made by using as a grain ration 
corn meal rather than gluten meal." Further experi- 
ments at the Cornell station (Bulletin No. 220) showed 
better results from corn meal and gluten feed mixed 
than from clear corn meal, both with skim milk. 

Corn and gluten meal, as compared with wheat meal, 
entered into experiments with two lots of six pigs each 
at the same station (Report of 1894) in which, to make 
100 pounds of gain, 292 pounds of wheat meal and 682 
pounds of skim milk were required as against 272 pounds 
of corn meal and gluten meal with 621 pounds of skim 
milk. This would give the latter combination an ad- 
vantage of a little more than 6 per cent over the wheat 
meal. 

Experiments there have not led to gluten meal's having 
great favor in Canada, the judgment being that "it seems 
rather unpalatable and produces soft bacon" (Bulletin 
No. 51, Central experimental farm, Ottawa). 

HOMINY CHOPS 

Hominy meal and hominy chops have been utilized to 
good advantage, but most feeds of this character have 



374 SWINE IN AMERICA 

been marketed with trade names, tending to give experi- 
ments with them more or less of an advertising nature. 

OIL MEALS 

The residues from oil-bearing seeds, mainly the meal 
from flaxseed and cottonseed cake after extracting 
the oil, are sometimes used for making up swine rations. 
The value of the cottonseed product is much disputed, 
but that from flaxseed is used with good results. It is 
known as linseed-oil meal, "old process," and "new proc- 
ess," the "new" differing from the "old" in that chemi- 
cal process instead of pressure has been used to extract 
the oil. The linseed-oil cake (afterward ground to 
make the meal ) is produced by the old process. The dry 
matter in linseed-oil meal is about the same with either 
process, practically 90 per cent; the protein averages 
about 28 per cent, but the carbohydrates are usually 
greater in the new process meal. Unground flaxseed 
itself is not used as feed. 

Linseed-oil meal is a supplemental feed, and aids by 
assisting digestion and improving the conditions and ap- 
pearance of the animal receiving it. Its effect is espe- 
cially noticeable in sleek and smooth skin and hair. It 
makes an excellent supplement to corn by reason of its 
stimulating and laxative tendency. 

As a rule, it should be used in rather restricted quan- 
tity, some breeders maintaining that an overfeeding of 
linseed-oil meal to sows in pig will cause abortion. Used 
with discretion, however, it has much value. "Many a 
brood sow and litter, lost from feeding overheating 



FEEDING BY-PRODUCTS 375 

foods," says Prof. Thomas Shaw, "could have been 
saved by adding to the ration one- fourth pound of oil 
cake per day for some time before and after parturition. 
It is helpful to young pigs after they have been weaned, 
and when they are upon a diet of constipating tendencies, 
such as skim milk." 

Experiments in feeding linseed-oil meal to swine were 
conducted at different times in a period of two years 
ending in the winter of 1905-06 at the Missouri sta- 
tion (Bulletins Nos. 65 and 67), which show linseed-oil 
meal more valuable than wheat middlings as a supple- 
ment to corn. The experiments were in charge of Prof. 
E. B. Forbes, who says : 

"During the past two years the station has been feed- 
ing a larg-e number of fattening hogs on experimental 
rations, and made considerable use of linseed-oil meal a:; 
a supplement to corn. The results indicate that this 
feed has a great usefulness for this purpose, and that its 
value is not half appreciated by practical pork producers. 
Linseed-oil meal was used because it is, at ordinary 
prices of grains, the cheapest vegetable source of diges- 
tible protein available as a complete supplement to corn 
for dry-lot hog-feeding. 

"On account of its name this feed is popularly sup- 
posed to produce an oily grade of pork, but, as a matter 
of fact, the methods of extraction of the oil from the 
flaxseed of late have been so perfected that in the bulk 
of the oil meal now on the market there is much less oil 
than in either corn or oats. We have found by follow- 
ing through the packing house a large number of hogs 



0/ 



70 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



fed on this feed that no ration which we have as yet com- 
pounded produces thicker, firmer or whiter fat than does 
linseed-oil meal used with corn. In our slaughter tests 
of carload lots of hogs fed upon various grain rations 
the butchers very soon learned to distinguish by the 
appearance of the carcass between individuals which 
had received oil meal and those which had received 
other feeds; the former in general being characterized 
by such marked excellence, from the packer's point of 
view, as to place them almost in a class by themselves. 
"The accompanying data summarize five tests of lin- 
seed-oil meal as a supplement of corn, and present some 
rather remarkable results : 



RESULTS FROM USE OF LINSEED OIL MEAL USED AS A SUP- 
PLEMENT TO CORN 



Rations. 


Initial 
weight. 


Days 

on 
feed. 


Average 
daily 
gain. 


Grain, 

100 
pounds 
gain. 




Pounds 
115 
116 
IIS 
130 
160 
120 


90 
90 
90 
60 
29 
60 


Pounds 
.75 
1.48 
1.16 
1.62 
1.78 
1.68 


Pounds 
556 


Corn, S parts; oil rneal, 1 part 


377 
430 




384 




3S5 




358 







"The first lot, fed on corn alone, produced 100 pounds 
of pork from 556 pounds of grain; that is, ten pounds 
of pork per bushel of corn. These figures coincide with 
the average of a large number of experiments in which 
corn alone has been used for pig-feeding. The second 
and third lots were fed at the same time as the above and 
differ only in the proportion of oil meal fed. Five parts 






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FEEDING BY-PRODUCTS 377 

of corn to one of oil meal produced ioo pounds of pork 
from $jj pounds of grain, and, figuring the corn at 30 
cents a bushel and grinding at 10 cents a hundredweight, 
a ton of oil meal as fed in this ration would save $49 
worth of corn. In the third lot, where 20 pounds of corn 
were fed with one pound of oil meal, 430 pounds of 
grain were required to make 100 pounds of pork; and a 
ton of oil meal so fed would save over $90 worth of 
corn. The fourth and fifth lots agree closely with the 
second, while the last in the table indicates a still greater 
efficiency for this ration. All these hogs were fed in 
small pens having granitoid floors, and received only this 
grain ration and water. 

''Rations containing linseed-oil meal are particularly 
palatable to hogs, being consumed in larger quantity than 
any other we have been able to compound. These ra- 
tions also have a slightly laxative effect, and keep the 
hogs in the heartiest and thriftiest condition imaginable. 
It seems to us that this feed has a much wider range 
of usefulness for hog-feeding than is commonly appre- 
ciated. The results obtained in the third lot above, 
where, with corn at 30 cents a bushel and grinding at 
ten cents a hundredweight, the oil meal saved $90 worth 
of corn per ton, are exceedingly interesting as indicating 
the great usefulness of this feed when administered even 
in small quantities. Greater profit, however, results from 
using more oil meal with the corn. The five-to-one ra- 
tion gives us about the correct proportion of protein to 
carbohydrates and fat, and is a practical feed for dry- 
lot pork production." 



378 SWINE IN AMERICA 

COTTONSEED MEAL 

Cottonseed meal fed directly to swine seems to canse 
fatal results in the large majority of cases, proving its 
use in that way unsafe, although it is a rich, concen- 
trated food, adaptable over a wide range of territory. 
On this account it has been the subject of many experi- 
ments, with a view to establishing its desirability for 
swine, none of which, however, has so far secured re- 
sults which would justify its general use. From some 
cause which chemists have been unable so far to deter- 
mine, it has the effect of poison. This is cumulative ; it 
is not apparent at first, but according to the recorded ex- 
periments, may be fatal at any time from three to ten 
weeks after its use has begun. The vital organs appear 
affected, but the digestive organs sometimes fail to reveal 
anything abnormal. The mortality is more or less de- 
pendent upon the quantity of the feed given, but usually 
more than half the pigs tested have died. Generally the 
fatal attack is sudden ; a pig which seems in excellent 
health may be dead in less than 12 hours, and death is 
seldom delayed more than 48 hours at the longest after 
the first symptoms of poisoning are observed. In some 
cases no signs of disease are apparent ; in others, there 
are indications similar to "thumps," with failing appe- 
tite, rapid breathing, and, as final symptoms, frothing at 
the nose and mouth. 

Experiments have been made in feeding cottonseed 
direct, and cottonseed meal roasted, rotted, steamed, fer- 
mented, or otherwise prepared, but without satisfaction. 
The meal is more dangerous than the seed, and it has 
been established that the toxic agent is in the kernel or 



FEEDING BY-PRODUCTS T>79 

meat and not in the oil or hull. A curious fact, which 
appears demonstrated thoroughly, is that the meal may 
be given safely, even in moderately large quantities, to 
cattle, and that the digestive processes are responsible 
for changes whereby hogs may work over the droppings 
of such cattle without danger. This is the testimony of 
many stockmen, but the extent of the gain which the 
hogs get from the cottonseed meal in the droppings is 
problematical. 

If some practical means is found which makes cotton- 
seed meal a safe supplemental feed, its value in pork pro- 
duction in the southern states will be immense, and mean 
the utilization at home of a product exported to the ex- 
tent of a billion pounds annually to pay for feeding ma- 
terial bought largely from other sections. 

This should not be construed to imply that cotton 
food products can be made to take the place of corn 
with the pork-maker of the South. This idea has been 
prevalent, but, to quote from Bulletin No. 85 of the 
Arkansas experiment station, it "may well be abandoned. 
They cannot replace, but may prove valuable adjuncts to 
corn or any other starchy or carbohydrate food which 
may be found available in the South for hog feeding. 
At $1.25 per hundred, which is its least cost laid 
down here (Arkansas station, 1904), in half-ton quan- 
tities, cottonseed meal as a large constituent of any ration 
cannot be called a cheap feed. As an exclusive feed, if 
it could be used that way, it is more expensive than corn. 
Corn itself makes a one-sided or badly balanced ration 
for pigs, or any other kind of young stock. \\ nen fed 
alone to pigs, it results in stunted growth, unthrift and 



380 SWINE IN AMERICA 

disease, a fact which is well known to all observant and 
careful feeders, but too little appreciated by the general 
run of farmers. This is due to its high content of those 
elements of the food which develop fat and heat, and 
lack of those necessary for the development of flesh and 
blood, upon which the proper growth of the animal de- 
pends. Cottonseed meal, on the contrary, contains a 
great excess of these latter elements and a deficiency of 
those starchy constituents which are so much in excess 
in corn. Independent of any actual poison present in 
cottonseed meal, its exclusive or excessive use in hog- 
feeding would doubtless also result in unthrift and dis- 
ease. But it supplies the nitrogenous or flesh-forming 
elements in the cheapest concentrated form in which it 
can be bought. For these reasons cottonseed meal and 
corn should supplement each other and be fed together." 

MUST BE USED CAUTIOUSLY 

The experiments at the Arkansas station show that the 
question of poison is one of amount of feed to a con- 
siderable extent, and that "the toxic allowance is deter- 
mined by the amount per day rather than by the absolute 
amount fed. Thirty pounds fed in 30 days may cause 
fatal poisoning, while amounts up to 150 pounds, in 
proper daily allowance, have been fed without harmful 
effects." This would suggest that, in sufficiently moder- 
ate quantity, and given with due discretion, cottonseed 
meal or cottonseed, might be fed with corn to hogs with- 
out danger. The "danger limit" has, in fact, been esti- 
mated by Prof. R. R. Dinwiddie of the Arkansas station, 
although he says (Bulletin No. 85) : "According to our 



FEEDING BY-PRODUCTS 38 1 

experience, any economic advantages to be derived from 
feeding this material will be secured by amounts well 
under the danger limit, and that independent of its ef- 
fects on health. The maximum safe allowance, if there 
is any such, should be determined with certainty by ex- 
periments more numerous and extensive than have so 
far been carried out, and the figures deduced from our 
own experiments are given with the knowledge that the 
next man's work, or even our own under different con- 
ditions, may necessitate their revision. For the benefit 
of those who may wish to 'take the chances' on feed- 
ing cottonseed meal or cottonseed to hogs continuously, 
the following allowances appear to be well within the 
danger limit : 

"Pigs under 50 pounds, Y\ pound per day. 

"Pigs from 50 to 75 pounds, 1-3 pound per day. 

"Pigs from 75 to 100 pounds, 2-5 pound per day. 

"Pigs from 100 to 150 pounds, ^ pound per day. 

"If fed a full grain allowance, the dosage may be ob- 
tained by properly proportioning the cottonseed meal to 
the other components of the ration, namely: one to five, 
six, seven, or eight, according to the stage of growth. 
A meal ration containing cottonseed meal should also 
contain at least an equal amount of wheat bran to supply 
bulk. For the remainder, corn appears to be the only 
choice." 

Experiments at the Texas station (Bulletin No. 78) 
conducted with a view to determining a line of safety in 
feeding cottonseed meal, resulted in the following recom- 
mendations : 



382 SWINE IN AMERICA 

"1. For animals on heavy feed, that not more than 
one- fourth the weight of the grain ration consist of cot- 
tonseed meal. 

"2. That this feeding continue not more than 50 
days, or that the proportion of meal be reduced if feed- 
ing is to be continued longer. 

"3. That the meal be mixed with the other feed and 
all soured together. 

"4. That as much green feed as possible be supplied 
to the hogs. 

"5. That a close watch be kept, and the meal taken 
from any animals not eating or not gaining well. 

"Feeders who have had experience with the meal will 
probably be able to exceed these recommendations, which, 
however, allow the use of enough meal greatly to im- 
prove a corn diet. One pound of cottonseed meal to five 
of corn furnishes the nutrients in the most desirable pro- 
portions for fattening, while one or two of corn are more 
nearly correct for young, growing stock." 

Numerous experiments have been made in the use of 
cottonseed meal for hog-feeding, but they are not detailed 
here, inasmuch as conclusions so far are not definite. 
Reports have been made in the following state experi- 
ment station bulletins: Alabama, Nos. 68, 122; Arkan- 
sas, Nos. 31, 76, 85 ; Iowa, Nos. 28, ^2, 66; Kansas, Nos. 
53, 95; Kentucky, No. 19; Mississippi, Nos. 13, 60; 
North Carolina, No. 109; Oklahoma, Nos, 51, 58; Texas, 
Nos. 21, 41, 78; Washington, No. 67; and in the follow- 
ing annual reports of experiment stations ; New York 
(Geneva), Eleventh and Twelfth; Oklahoma, 1900-01, 
1901-02; Wisconsin, Eleventh and Twenty-second. 



FEEDING BY-PRODUCTS 383 

John Fields, formerly director of the Oklahoma ex- 
periment station, says : "'Cottonseed isn't good feed for 
hogs, and when yon try to use it for that purpose you run 
the risk of heavy loss." 

RICE BY-PRODUCTS 

Rice by-products have been satisfactorily used for 
feeding swine, and for this, rice meal, which includes all 
the by-products after cleaning the rice, has been found 
equal to corn meal. It is claimed by Southern feeders 
that exclusive or excessive feeding on rice meal has a 
tendency to weaken the intestines of hogs. 

The South Carolina station conducted experiments in 
1900 to determine the value of rice meal, using corn 
meal as the standard. Six Berkshire pigs, of uniform 
age and size, were divided into two lots and fed for 6r 
days, beginning early in July. The meal was mixed with 
separator skim milk, which contained but little fat, and 
they were fed all that they would clean up. This was 
four pounds of meal and 16 pounds of milk per head at 
the beginning, and increased as they would take it. One 
lot was fed corn meal and milk, and the other rice meal 
and milk for 39 days, when the feeding was reversed, 
and the lot which had previously received one kind of 
meal was given the other for the remainder of the period. 
Water was furnished at noon each day, but it was noticed 
that the pigs drank but little. Feed valuations were set 
at $20 per ton for corn meal. $15 per ton for rice meal, 
and 20 cents per 100 pounds for skim milk. The re- 
sults for the entire experiment were tabulated as follows : 



•tf 

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1 


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FEEDING BY-PRODUCTS 385 

By this table rice meal apparently has a feeding value 
for swine slightly above that of corn meal, and, allowing 
for the variations that will occur with different lots of 
pigs, it may be said to be of practically the same value as 
corn meal. An experiment at the Massachusetts station 
(Report of 1896) showed that when equal weights of 
corn meal and rice meal were fed with skim milk to 
different pigs of equal age the gain was exactly the 
same. 

According- to the bulletin of the South Carolina sta- 
tion, "the rice meal is a by-product of the rice mills, and 
consists largely of rice flour, rice polish, and rice bran. 
As yet the mills have no uniform way of putting it on 
the market, and in order that the reader may understand 
what we mean by rice meal as used in this experiment, 
we might say that it is all the by-product obtained in 
cleaning the rice grain for the market. Its chemical an- 
alysis shows that it has about the same amount of pro- 
tein, carbohydrates and fat as corn meal." 

Rice polish and rice bran return good results in feed- 
ing hogs, but are not always easy to obtain, as the millers 
prefer to mix them with the hulls, and the mixture has 
a materially depreciated feeding value. The practical 
value of rice meal is more or less dependent upon the 
amount of cheap by-product that has been mixed in it. 
The Alabama station reported in Bulletin No. 122 a 
number of tests of rice polish which showed its high 
feeding value when the quality is good. In these tests 
100 pounds of gain were produced from an. average of 
373 pounds of rice polish, as compared with 474 pounds 
of corn meal. "At this rate," the bulletin summarizes, 



386 SWINE IN AMERICA 

"78.6 pounds of rice polish were equal to 100 pounds of 
corn meal, a saving of 21.4 per cent of the grain by the 
use of polish in lieu of corn meal." In 1900 the Ala- 
bama station paid $26 per ton for rice polish, and in 
1902 it was quoted from the same source at $17.90 
per ton. 

Mr. E. J. Fellows made extensive experiments in 1906 
with rice bran at Springfield, Missouri, where he main- 
tained as many as 1,200 hogs at a time. The rice bran 
was made into a slop, mixed in large tanks, and used in 
connection with corn ; at 200 pounds weight the hog was 
given three pounds of rice bran a day and two pounds 
of corn. Mr. Fellows says: "Rice bran, when pure, is 
a splendid hog feed, but in the last two years it has 
been impossible to g-et good goods on account of adul- 
teration with rice hulls." Rice hulls contain about 13 
per cent ash and 35 per cent crude fiber and are ground 
up so that they have the appearance of bran, and mixed 
with the pure bran to be sold as "rice feed" or "pure rice 
bran." As the hulls have little, if any, feeding value, 
such an adulteration materially reduces the worth of any 
rice by-product. 

PACKING HOUSE BY-PRODUCTS 

Scraps and trimmings of meat and bone from the 
packing houses, which were formerly utilized in ferti- 
lizer manufacture, are now converted into an appetizing 
and protein-furnishing food for swine, for which there 
is developing a demand taxing the houses to supply. 
Dried blood and slaughter-house waste likewise come 
within this class of feeds. 



FEEDING BY-PRODUCTS 387 

Feeding; of offal at local slaughterhouses has been a 
common practice, and meat scraps have been prepared 
for years in Europe, especially in Germany, as food for 
swine. It was not until 1901 and 1902, however, that 
American packers realized that from their meat residues 
could be prepared an economical hog- food of high value 
to supplement the fat-making properties of corn. This' 
was demonstrated by experiments at the Indiana station 
(Bulletin No. 90). The packers were quick to take ad- 
vantage of new opportunities presented, and by 1904 
practically every experiment station in North America 
had been supplied with, and made acquainted with the 
new food. The objectionable odor had been eliminated, 
and by cooking - , pressing and grinding, the form was 
made attractive. Experiment station reports and the 
farm press have used the packers' various trade names of 
"digester tankage," "meat meal," "beef meal," etc., but 
the composition and preparation of these differently 
named feeds are essentially the same, and the results of 
an experiment with one are, in the main, applicable to the 
use of another in a like class of protein content. Most 
of this by-product is sold under the guarantee or claim 
that it contains at least 60 per cent of protein. As it 
usually contains from 12 to 20 per cent of mineral mat- 
ter, its excellence for balancing a corn ration can readily 
be seen. 

The following analysis was made by the Indiana sta- 
tion (Bulletin No. 90) : 

Water, 8.63 per cent; ash, 15.94 per cent; protein, 
49.81 per cent; crude fiber, 4.78 per cent; nitrogen-free 
extract, 5.06 per cent; ether extract, 15.78 per cent. 



\88 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



Analyses of three different samples of varying quality 
made at the Iowa station (Bulletin No. 65 J gave these 
results : 



ANALYSES OF THREE SAMPLES OF PACKING HOUSE FEED- 
ING STUFFS 



Water. 


Ash. 


Protein. 


Crude 
fiber. 


Nitrogen- 
free ex- 
tract. 


Ether 
extract. 


Per cent. 

6. 10 
6.25 
9. OS 


Per cent. 
15.60 
12.85 
20.65 


Per cent. 
61.10 
42.15 
39.10 


Per cent. 

5.20 

6.95 

10.90 


Per cent. 

3.12 

15.50 

8.60 


Per cent. 

8.88 

16.30 

11.70 



Two samples of "extra quality," representing the lead- 
ing two brands on the market, were analyzed at the Iowa 
station (Bulletin No. 91) and gave this: 



ANALYSES OF PACKING HOUSE FEEDING STUFFS 





Water. 


Ash. 


Protein. 


Crude 
fiber. 


Nitrogen 
free extract. 


Fat. 


No. 1 
No. 2 


8.23 
12.61 


6.50 
9.62 


66.36 
53.54 


2.50 
7.24 


6.04 

9.54 


10.37 

7.45 



The cost was $35 a ton for No. 1, and $33 a ton for 
No. 2, or $1.75 and $1.65 a hundredweight respectively. 
not including $1.50 a ton for freight. 

The analyses give an idea of the range of value of this 
product, and that, theoretically at least, it should have 
high feeding value as a supplement in fattening. This 
has been confirmed in practice by both feeders and ex- 
perimental workers. 



FEEDING BY-PRODUCTS 389 

This by-product is made of scraps and trimmings from 
meat and fat, and scrap bones, with sometimes pieces of 
intestines, hair and similar residue. It is cooked or 
steamed for several hours in pressure tanks, which is 
said to destroy any existing disease germs; its grease is 
afterward drawn off and the greater part of the moisture 
evaporated or pressed out. After being dried and 
ground it resembles rather dark wheat shorts. It is 
shipped usually in 100-pound sacks, and claim is made 
by the makers that it will maintain its quality indefinitely 
under ordinarily good storage conditions. 

It should be used only in relatively small quantities, 
not over one- fourth to one pound a day to the animal, 
according to age and condition. It may be given dry or 
in slop, separate from, or mixed with, other feed, but 
the preferred method seems to be dry feeding in a trough 
and, if with corn, before that is given. Hogs sometimes 
require a day or so to become accustomed to the feed, but 
after that will usually eat it with much relish. 

Experiments have shown that 20 to 40 per cent of corn 
meal is, or may be saved, by the use of this packers' by- 
product, and in addition, it aids in securing a quicker 
finish and a generally improved condition, particularly 
where feeds of a like character, such as skim milk or 
pasturage, to supplement corn, are not available. When 
balancing a corn ration, it has been found best to use 
the packers' product for not over ten per cent of the ra- 
tion. Results of using it with corn meal at the Indiana 
station (Bulletin No. 90) and at the Iowa station ( Bul- 
letin No. 65) have been summarized by Rommel thus: 






390 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



RESULTS WITH RATION OF CORN MEAL AND TACKING 
HOUSE TANKAGE 





M 


^ 5 






. 


Feed eaten. 


Feed per 100 
pounds gam. 






5. 


















o.S 


Ration. 



u 


£ to 

C 


g 
'3 .a 


o 

8-8 


13 s 


-"0 


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rt"S 


d-0 






B 




■£$ 


B? 




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• 3 S 


•i^ B 




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rt 








fc 


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Indiana: 






















Cnrn meal 10 
Tankage 1 . . 


! * 


59 


589 


127 


L.16 


1,982 


197 


337 


33 


$3.80 


Corn meal S . 
Tankage 1 . . 


! * 


58 


625 


127 


1.23 


1,984 


379 


317 


61 


4 . 00 


Corn meal.. . 


4 


58 


342 


127 


.67 


1,779 




520 




5.20 


Corn meal & 






















shorts 10.. . 
Tankage 1.... 


! * 


58 


579 


127 


1.14 


2,001 


199 


346 


34 


3.60 


Iowa: 






















Corn meal.. . 


6 


197 


596 


49 


2.08 


2,747 




461 




5.10 


Corn meal & 






















tankage.. . 


6 


202 


757 


49 


2.57 


2,429 


45S 


321 


61 


4.50 


Corn meal & 






















tankage.. . 


6 


198 


66S 


•1" 


2.27 


2,438 


460 


365 


« 


4.90 



Market prices of feeding- stuffs used in these experi- 
ments were $22 a ton for corn meal and $25 to $32 a 
ton for tankage. 

From experiments in fattening on corn and tankage at 
the Nebraska experiment station in 1905 and 1906 (Bul- 
letin No. 94) the following conclusions are drawn: 

"A notable advantage in the feeding of tankage is 
seen in the more rapid gains made by the hogs and the 
consequent shortening of the feeding period. Another 
argument for tankage is that it is a concentrated protein 
food. Only a small amount is required to produce the 
result desired. In all the experiments made at this sta- 
tion the hogs fed tankage consumed more feed, made 
larger gains, and were not easily put 'off feed,' while 
the hogs fed on straight shelled corn were easily thrown 
off their feed after the first six weeks, consumed less feed 







liroup of Hampshire Gilts Eight to Nine Months Old 

Weight 250 pounds 




Champion Hampshire Boar, Long John 8011 

Weight 750 pounds 



FEEDING in -PRODUCTS 



391 



and made slower gains. The feeding of tankage or 
ground bone to young, growing pigs produces a very 
marked effect on the strength of bone when compared 
with a corn ration, and its influence is still marked when 
compared with corn and shorts on alfalfa pasture." In 
the Nebraska experiments tankage was figured at a cost 
of $40 a ton. 

In one of the experiments reported by the Nebraska 
station (Bulletin No. 94), 30 hogs which had been with 
grain-fed steers were separated into three lots of ten each 
and placed in alfalfa pasture. They were fed on rations 
as indicated in the table following, from May to July, a 
period of eight weeks, each lot being fed practically all 
the hogs would eat. They were in good condition 
throughout the experiment. Results were as follows : 

RESULTS FROM FEEDING SOAKED CORN AND TANKAGE 





Lot 1. 


Lot 2. 


Lot 3. 




Soaked 
corn. 

10 
8 
216 
145 
71 
1.26 
416 
$3.04 
.78 


Soaked 
corn, 95% 
Tankage 5% 
10 
8 
229 
144 
85 
1.51 
371 
$2.88 
.98 




Number of pigs on experiment 


corn. 90' 
Tankage 10%, 
10 
8 


Average gain per day, pounds 

Feed for 100 pounds gain, pounds 

Cost of 100 pounds gain 

Price received per bushel for corn eaten 


230 
144 
86 
1.53 
366 
$3 . 09 
.85 



This was a return of nearly $i a bushel for corn when 
fed with the addition of but 5 per cent of tankage. 

PACKERS' RESIDUE VS. SKIM MILK 

Packers' "meat meal" and tankage make in a way an 
acceptable substitute for skim milk, and are accordingly 



39 2 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



of value for growing pigs. Tests to determine the rela- 
tive value of these by-products were conducted at the 
Michigan station (Bulletin No. 2$j), in which it was 
found that skim milk returned slightly larger gains, but 
that the cost was relatively more than with tankage. 
These results were obtained from skim milk at 20 cents 
per 100 pounds and tankage at $1. 62 l /2 per hundred. 

One test was made through a period of 56 days in the 
winter, in which the ration for Lot I consisted of corn 
meal, three parts; middlings, three parts; and tankage 
one part, mixed with water. For Lot II, equal parts of 
corn meal and middlings, with an equal weight of skim 
milk. The results were as shown : 

SKIM MILK VS. TANKAGE; TESTS WITH PIGS BETWEEN 
FOUR AND SIX MONTHS OLD 





















Food per 






(N 




Food consumed. 






pound 




<N 





a 












gain. 
















d 


d 


3 


^ 






ji 




2'3 






Lot No. 


1—1 


% 


A 




M . 


<D 


•■3 





u*> 








£"0 


£•& 




St3 




(ST3 


hfl 


o-a 




•0 






00 C 


m a 




B§ 


•a a 


^ a 


S c 




+j C 


■a S 


.5 3 




'3 3 


•5 3 




13 3 


C 3 


.5 3 




u> 3 






pa. 


Pa, 


O 


O O 
CJPL, 


So. 


Hfc 


^ 


H 


O 

O a 


So, 




1 Five pigs.. 


313.3 


621 


307.7 


420 


420 


140 




$10.67 


S3. 46 


3.18 




2 Five pigs. . 


323.0 


654 


331.0 


461 


461 




980 


$11.18 


$3.37 


2.78 2.96 



The pigs in Lot I made a daily average gain of 1.09 
pounds each with an average daily consumption of 3.5 
pounds of feed per head, while those in Lot II increased 
in weight daily 1.18 pounds each, consuming on an aver- 
age 3.29 pounds of meal mixture and 3.5 pounds of skim 



FEEDING BY-PRODUCTS 



393 



milk each per day. No difference could be detected be- 
tween the two lots as to thrift and feeding ability. 

Two other tests were made in the summer, one with 
pigs between 50 and 120 days old (Lots V and VI in 
the following table; two barrows and three sows in each 
lot), and another with pigs between 58 and T28 days old 
(Lots III and IV r ; one barrow and three sows in each 
lot). These tests showed the following results : 

SKIM MILK VS. TANKAGE ; TESTS WITH PIGS BETWEEN 50 
AND 128 DAYS OLD 





>> 
.CO 

f° 


>> 

m c 
[So, 

443 


•0 
c 
g 

a, 

g 
'3 



Food consumed. 


. 

"■a 

•3 ° 

rt 

Ho 


d 

o.s 

.-• a 

u M 

P.T3 

+j a 


p, 


Fi .Mi] 1 ier 
pound 
gain. 


Lot No. 


"3 

C g 


bo . 
G m 

^■o 

X) G 
■d G 
•*-* O 


<j . 
be * 

aJ-O 

u. c 

G G 

a 

HI 


.3 


■0 


G r— 
IS 


3 Four pigs. . 


159 


284 


266.7 


533.3 


80 




$9.30 


$3.27 


3.09 




4 Four pigs. . 


152 


463 


311 


245.5 


491.0 




2209.5 


$11 .78 


$3.78 


2.36 


7.1 


5 Five pigs.. . 


183 


478 


295 


282.4 


564.8 


84.8 




$0.85 


$3.33 


3.15 




6 Five pigs... . 


184 


523 


339 


262.7 


525.3 




2,364 


$12.60 


$3.71 


2.32 


6.97 



In order to verify results of the foregoing' tests, two 
lots of pigs were given corn meal and middlings in the 
same proportion as the lots of the preceding table, but 
without skim milk or tankage. This served as an indi- 
cation of the value of both skim milk and tankage. Re- 
sults in the "check test" were made with pigs not used in 
the preceding tests, and somewhat older. The check test 
was summarized as follows : 



194 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



SKIM 


MILK 


vs. tankage; 


CHECK TEST 






















Food per 




00 


VO 




Food consumed. 






pound 






<u 


•a 
c 

ft 






-p 


° d 
o.S 

« tS 


gain. 


Lot No. 


"is 


Si . 




.M 




,* 




.CO 


+j to 


E-o 


iH-d 


BO to 
nl-O 


S -o 


S'o 1 


<u to 


■O 


E^ 




giS 


.35 


d 


E§ 


■o c 
*a 3 


^ c 

C 3 


• S 3 


S>2 


tsS 


a 3 




PPh 




O 


o o 
00, 


s o 


ttf o 




£° 


o O 

o a 


" 




7 Five pigs.. . 


265 


554 


289 


386.8 


773.7 






$11.60 


$4.01 4.01 






2S8l 535 


277 


386.8 


773.7 






$11.60 


$4. 18 


4.18 

















General results are summed up in the bulletin as fol- 
lows : "In the three tests including tankage and skim 
milk, the average cost of production per ioo pounds with 
the tankage rations was $3.35, with the skim milk rations 
$3.62, and with the check ration of middlings, corn meal 
and water, $4.09. In the three original tests the tank- 
age ration pigs consumed an average 3.14 pounds of 
meal mixture per pound gain; those receiving skim milk 
in the ration required 2.48 pounds of meal mixture and 
5.67 pounds skim milk per pound gain. In the check ra- 
tion, consisting of corn meal and middlings, the average 
amount of meal mixture required per pound gain was 
4.09 pounds. The average daily gains from the three 
tankage rations was .98 pounds ; from the three skim 
milk rations, 1.08 pounds, and from the check ration. .8 
pound; though the ration containing skim milk made a 
slightly greater gain than where tankage was used, the 
cost of producing this increased gain was somewhat 
greater." 

1 [ogs following fattening steers have been greatly 
improved when given tankage in addition to the drop- 



FEEDING BY-PRODUCTS 395 

pings from the cattle. An experiment on this line con- 
ducted at the Ohio experiment station (Circular No. 73) 
showed that hogs which received one-third pound of 
tankage daily per head, made gains 52.22 per cent larger 
than those dependent solely upon the droppings. Six 
lots of steers were fed upon two different rations. There 
were seven head in each lot, and three lots were fed upon 
each ration. One ration consisted of shelled corn, cot- 
tonseed meal, corn stover, corn silage, and mixed hay. 
The other was shelled corn, cottonseed meal, corn stover, 
and mixed hay. At the end of 63 days the three hogs 
which had been placed with each lot of cattle were re- 
placed by thinner hogs, four to each lot. All lots of 
hogs were supplied with a mixture of ashes and salt, but 
no other food save the droppings except the tankage. 
It was noticeable that the hogs fed on tankage had less 
desire for ashes and salt than the other lots. The gains 
made through the addition of tankage were not only 
much larger, but were found to be cheaper, with tank- 
age figured at $37.60 a ton. A comparison of gains is 
shown in the table on the next page. 

The Ohio experiment led to the following general ob- 
servation regarding supplements to the feed of hogs fol- 
lowing fattening cattle (Circular No. 75) : "While, on 
account of its cheapness as a carrier of protein and ash 
and convenience for feeding, tankage was used in the 
work reported herein, it is believed that other feeds, such 
as linseed-oil meal, soy beans, skim milk, buttermilk, or 
middlings, would greatly increase the efficiency of the 
'cattle hog' in making economical gains. Feeders need, 
however, to exercise keen discrimination in the purchase 



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39G 



FEEDING BY-PRODUCTS 



197 



of feeclstuffs, lor there is a likelihood of a heavy demand 
for certain feeds, making it possible for the manufactur- 
ers to raise prices beyond the amount justified by the 
feeding value. Hogs following cattle are often not sup- 
plied with the ration best suited for producing the great- 
est gains." 

B. E. Carmichael, animal husbandman of the Ohio 
experiment station, exhibited at the Ohio state fair of 
1908, five lots of five pigs each that had been fed for 52 
days, three of the lots having tankage as part of their 
ration. These 25 pigs were all of the same age, type 
and condition when their feeding test begun. The de- 
tails of the feeding and the results it brought are con- 
densed in the followine table : 



Rations 







Corn 


Corn 


Corn 


Corn 


meal and 


meal and 


meal, in 


meal, on 


tankage, 


tankage, 


dry lot 


pasture 


on pas- 


in drv 






ture 


lot 



Corn 

meal and 

tankage 

in dry 1< >t 

(| full 

feed) 



Initial weight 

Final weight 

Gain in 1 ive weight 

Average daily gain per pig. . 

Feed consumed 

Corn " daily per pig 

Tankage " daily per pig 

Feed per 100 pounds gain. . . 



Pounds 


Pounds 


Pounds 


Pounds 


338.5 


324.5 


329. 


338.5 


547. S 


69.6 


831. 


826.5 


209. 


371.5 


502. 


488. 


.67 


1.20 


1.62 


1.57 


1062.5 


1279.5 


1613. 


1697.5 


3.4 


4.1 


4.6 


4.9 






.6 


.6 


508. 


344. 


321. 


348. 



Pounds 
327. 
689. 
362. 

1.17 
1273. 
3.7 
.5 
352. 



The corn meal and tankage mixture fed to three 
of the lots consisted of eight parts of corn meal to one 
part of tankage, by weight. Each of the lots on pasture 
had access to one-fourth of an acre of blue grass and 
white clover; the lot fed corn alone on pasture ate 
notably more grass than did the lot fed corn and tank- 



198 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



age on pasture. Accordingly the charges per lot for 
pasture are $1.50 and $1.00 respectively 

The lot fed corn meal alone made relatively slow 
gains. 

The use of pasture increased the rate of gain, and 
reduced the amount of feed required to produce a given 
gain. 

The corn meal and tankage mixture proved more effi- 
cient than corn meal alone in producing rapid and eco- 
nomical gains. 

Economy of gains depends very largely upon mar- 
ket prices of feeds. The following tables show the 
cost of gains with corn at 45, 60 and 75 cents per bushel, 



Rations 







Corn 


Corn 


Corn 


Corn 


meal and 


meal and 


meal, 


meal, 


tankage, 


tankage, 


dry lot 


pasture 


pasture 


dry lot 



O irn 

meal and 

tankage, 

drv lot 

(f full 

feed) 



Corn, 45 cents per bushel; tankage, $42.60 per ton. 



Cost per 100 pounds gain 

Profit on gain in live weight of 

5 hogs at 5 cents per pound . . 
Profit on gain in live weight of 

5 hogs at 6 cents per pound . 


$4.09 
1.91 
4.00 


$3.17 
6.80 

10.51 


$3.25 

8.76 

13. 7S 


$3.31 

8.26 

13.14 


$3.34 
5.99 
9.61 



Corn, 60 cents per bushel; tankage, $42.60 per ton 





$5.45 


$4.09 


$4.02 


$4.14 


$4.18 


Pn ifit on gain in live weight of 












5 hogs at 5 cents per pound . 


loss .93 


3.37 


4.92 


4.22 


2.96 


Profit on gain in live weight of 












5 hogs at 6 cents per pound . 


1.16 


7.08 


9.94 


9.10 


6.58 



Corn, 75 cents per bushel; tankage, $42.60 per ton 



Cost per 100 pounds gain. . . . 


$6.81 


$5.02 


$4.78 


$4.96 


$5.02 


Profit on gain in live weight of 












5 hogs at 5 cents per pound . 


loss 3.78 


loss .06 


1.08 


.17 


loss .07 


Profit on gain in live weight of 












5 hogs at 6 cents per pound . 


loss 1.69 


3.65 


6.10 


5.05 


3.55 



FEEDING BY-PRODUCTS 399 

and the profit on each lot of five hogs with gain in live 
weight at 5 and 6 cents per pound. Market conditions 
should be carefully considered in this connection. 

FERTILIZER "TANKAGE" NOT A FOOD 

The use of the term tankage should not lead to the 
idea that the concentrated tankage used as a fertilizer is 
suitable for feed, for such is not the case. The packing- 
house residues prepared for feeding purposes, from 
which the objectionable odors and disease germs have 
been eliminated, and which have been ground almost to 
the fineness of middlings, constitute an entirely differ- 
ent article. The analyses given in preceding paragraphs 
show considerable diversity in their quality, but most 
satisfactory results have been obtained with the better 
grades, and of late the largest demand has been for those 
that by reason of their protein content are termed "60 
per cent" product. 

OTHER PACKING-HOUSE BY-PRODUCTS 

Packing-house by-products of minor importance in 
swine-feeding are dried blood and ground bone. These 
are sold under various names, such as "blood flour," 
''blood meal," and "bone meal." 

It is claimed that the dried blood offered commer- 
cially contains about 85 per cent of protein. Its value is 
greatest for very young and unthrifty pigs. Professor 
Henry recommends feeding two ounces of dried blood 
per 100 pounds of pig. The price of dried blood is rela- 
tively high considered as a feeding stuff. 



400 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



Records of feeding- ground bone in comparison with 
other rations at the Nebraska experiment station (Bulle- 
tin No. 94) show the following results for five weeks' 
feeding, beginning early in January, 1905, with corn 
and shorts, each figured at 80 cents, and tankage and 
ground bone each at $2 per 100 pounds. 

COMPARATIVE RESULTS FROM FEEDING GROUND BONE 





Lot 1 


Lot 2 


Lot 3 


Lot 4 




8 
Corn 

171 
152 

19 
920 

$7.26 


8 
Corn 90% 
Tankage 
10% 
229 
184 
45 
530 
$4.87 


8 
Com 90% 
Gr'd bone 
10% 
221 
173 
48 
490 
$4.50 


8 




Com 75% 


Average weight at close, pounds.... 
Average weight at beginning, lbs. . . 

Average gain, pounds 

Feed for 100 pounds gain, pounds. . 


Shorts 
25% 

191 

154 
37 

700 
$5.60 







This was followed by tests to determine the relative 
strength of bones as developed by the different feeds. 
Bones from hogs referred to in the foregoing table were 
broken in a testing machine with the results as shown 
on the next page. 



SUGAR FACTORY BY-PRODUCTS 

The principal feeding by-product of the beet sugar 
factories is the beet pulp, fresh or dried. Pulp is the wet, 
shredded mass remaining after extracting the sweet 
juices for sugar manufacture, and is frequently obtain- 
able at the factories at a low price. Its use has in many 
instances been highly satisfactory in feeding horses, cat- 
tle and sheep, but tests of it for swine have not been 
numerous. 



FEEDING BY-l'RODUCTS 



4OI 



BREAKAGE-WEIGHTS ON BONES OF SWINE ON VARIOUS 

RATIONS 

First Test 



Killed Feb. 10: 
Number in lot. 
Ration 



Lot 1 



Soaked 

corn. 
Average live weight 
Breaking strength of radius (forel 192 

leg) 

Breaking strength of tibia (lower 723 

hind leg) 

Average of two bones in each legi 607 

(eight bones) 

714 



Lot 2 



Corn 90% 
Tankage 

io<; 

247 

1308 

825 



Lot 3 



Corn 90% 

Gr'd bone 

10% 

257 

1561 

732 

1081 



Lot 4 



Corn 75% 
Shorts 25<T( 



210 



783 



Second Test 



Killed March 14: 

X umber in lot 

Average live weight 

Breaking strength of radius (fore 

leg) 

Breaking strength of tibia (lower 

hind leg) 

Average of two bones in each leg 

(eight bones) 




4 
204 

835 

662 

801 



This pulp, as it comes from the factory, is about go 
per cent water, consequently low in nutrients and not of 
practical value as a food by itself, but it may be used ad- 
vantageously with grain or concentrated feed to furnish 
succulence, promote digestion and increase the appetite. 
Herbert Myrick in "The American Sugar Industry" 
gives an analysis of beet pulp, showing the following 
percentages of digestible nutrients : 

Protein, 1.3; carbohydrates, 6.7 ; ether extract, 0.4. 

BEET PULP AS FEED 

The Colorado station compared the feeding value of 
sugar beet pulp for swine with sugar beets, and in con- 
nection with wheat and barley (Bulletin No. 74). The 



4oj 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



hogs did not relish the pulp by itself, but " in a few days 
they were eating greedily a pulp and grain mixture." 
Conclusions reached were as follows: "Sugar beets and 
sugar beet pulp proved equally valuable in our experi- 
ments, and because of its cheapness and effect on growth 
we believe pulp may be profitable to feed to growing pigs 
in connection with a grain ration, or during the first part 
of a fattening period. The pulp gave a return of $1.50 
per ton when fed in combination with grain, and served 
the same purpose in our hog rations at less expense. It 
was necessary at first to mix the pulp with the grain to 
induce the pigs to eat it. We would not recommend 
feeding more than two pounds of pulp with a pound of 
grain in a ration for pigs from 100 to 200 pounds in 
weight." Comparative results in the Colorado experi- 
ments were summarized by Rommel in the following 
table : 

FEEDING VALUE OF SUGAR-BEET PULP WITH GRAIN AND 
SUGAR BEETS 







cci-a 








Average amount 


Feed per 100 




£"g 




Si 


•M C 








feed eaten. 


pounds gain. 




+j 3 




p, 


to O 

•5 a 


c 




'HA 

■3*0 






o.S 


















o a 




■ 


rs hr 


CIS 





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(H 


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t, M 


o a 




01 


W'S 


M J2 


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£ d 


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u £ 


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d 3 — ^ u a 


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o a 


( t ra in 


4 


95 


120 


104 


1.16 


546.50 




450 






S4.50 


$3.90 


Beet pulp and 




























grain 


4 


9 7 


88 


99 


. 89 343 


yo6 




390 


800 




4.30 


3.35 


Sugar beets 


























and grain . . . 


4 


101 


98 


104 


.94)416 




391 


420 




400 


5.00 


2.93 



DRIED BEET PULP AND MOLASSES 

Dried beet pulp is of two sorts, the plain or white, 
which is usually meant when dried beet pulp is referred 



FEEDING BY-PRODUCTS 403 

to, and dried molasses beet pulp. Neither has been found 
of much practical value for swine. Dried sugar-beet 
chips have been shown in German experiments (Milch- 
wirtschaftliches Centralblatt, Leipsic, 1905, No. 12) to 
give less satisfactory results when added to a barley and 
skim milk ration than when the latter was given without 
them. In this test the fat of the pigs was examined, 
but no material difference was observed from use of the 
dried sugar-beet chips. Beet molasses has been found 
unsatisfactory for swine.' Cane molasses is thought to 
nave a tendency to induce sterility in breeding animals. 
Where sorghum molasses is manufactured the skimmings 
from the vats or evaporating pans, mixed with other 
foods, make a most acceptable relish for fattening pigs. 

A few experiments have been made in feeding beet- 
sugar molasses to hogs. Apparently the only one with 
favorable results is that in Sweden by I. Insulander 
(Kunglia Landtbruks-Akademiens Handlinger och Tid- 
skrift, Stockholm, 1895, p. 246) in which the molasses 
was mixed with skim milk fed to young pigs. On the 
other hand, German experiments have indicated that beet 
molasses may possess poisonous qualities for pigs, and 
this has been confirmed in the United States by an experi- 
ment at the Cornell experiment station (Bulletin No. 
199), reported as follows: "On January 2, a lot of five 
pigs weighing 435 pounds, was put upon a ration of 
which molasses from a beet sugar factory formed a part. 
The daily ration was corn meal, eight pounds ; molasses, 
12 pounds, and skim milk, 20 pounds. This quantity was 
given in two daily feeds, and although the pigs appar- 
ently did not relish the molasses, they ate it. On January 



4<> | SWINE IN AMERICA 

5 the pigs all came to the trough in the morning appar- 
ently in their usual health. Within an hour one was dead, 
and another within a few hours. A post-mortem exam- 
ination was made by Drs. Law and Moore of the veteri- 
nary college, and there were found strong indications of 
poisoning. The pigs remaining were immediately put 
upon a ration of corn meal and skim milk. The pigs in 
this molasses-fed lot were the most expensive of any in 
the experiments conducted at the time." 

In experiments at the Utah station (Bulletin No. 101), 
no indications of poisoning were discovered from using a 
limited quantity of beet molasses, but it was necessary 
to observe care in its feeding to prevent scouring. "The 
pork from the pigs in this trial was sold in the vicinity 
of the station, and all except that from the molasses-fed 
pigs was pronounced fine in every respect. The pork 
produced on molasses was objected to on the ground 
that it had a peculiar, unsavory taste." 

No such results from using either sorghum or cane 
molasses appear to be reported. ''Unlike the bitter beet 
molasses," says Henry, "that from the cane plant is pala- 
table and much relished by all farm animals. Cane mo- 
lasses contains about 50 per cent sugar and 12 per cent 
gums. The nutrients it contains are about equal to those 
in corn, and since starch and sugar have practically the 
same nutritive value, cane molasses has the same feed- 
ing value as an equal weight of corn. Molasses is used 
to some extent for preparing animals for show or sale. 
Its good effect for this purpose is doubtless due to its 
palatability, including large consumption of the feed sub- 
stances with which it is mingled. Flesh put on by molas- 



FEEDING BY-PRODUCTS 405 

ses feeding is not considered substantial, and this sub- 
stance is said to be deleterious to breeding animals, lead- 
ing- to sterility, especially with males.'' 

Miss Mary Best of Barber county, Kansas, who has had 
considerable experience in the manufacture of sorghum 
molasses and in swine raising, reports the satisfactory 
feeding of sorghum molasses to hogs. She says (Eleventh 
Biennial Report of the Kansas State Board of Agricul- 
ture, p. 275) : "We have had on hand a good many bar- 
rels of sorghum molasses, and have fed it to the hogs, a 
few gallons at a time, all winter. They like it im- 
mensely." 

For other live stock mixtures of molasses with dried 
brewers' and distillers' grains, malt sprouts, hulls and 
other grain offal, ground cornstalks, waste from flour- 
ing mills, and like material have found more or less 
favor, and it is not improbable that they may in future 
be adapted for a wider use with swine, profitably utiliz- 
ing in this way much by-product not popular before. In 
all of these preparations, as with packers' residues, a high 
degree of heat is used in drying, to prevent fermentation 
likely to occur in warm weather. The proportion of 
molasses used is generally about 10 per cent. 

BREWERS' AND DISTILLERS' GRAINS 

Around a brewerv or distillery the by-products known 
as brewers' or distillers' grains or slop are available, and 
sometimes in a limited way are fed to hogs, but not 
ordinarily with much satisfaction. 

Professor Henrv says : "Wet, fresh brewers' grains 
are useful mainly as a feed for milch cows, and in this 



406 SWINE IN AMERICA 

particular there is none better. The writer doubts 
whether any large use can be made of the grains for 
feeding pigs. When we remember that practically all 
of the starch has been taken out of the grain and that 
there is left the husk and cellular parts, together with 
most of the protein, we will see that such material is 
hardly suited for utilization in any large measure by the 
digestive apparatus of the pig. No doubt some of the 
grain can be used as 'filling,' the same as bran might be." 
In case it is deemed best to utilize material of this 
kind care should be taken to prevent souring either of 
the feed itself or of drippings through or under floors 
or elsewhere. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Water, Slop and Swill 

Water, while not a food, is no less a necessity for 
swine, and the hog, having a small stomach, requires 
water at frequent intervals. It is a requisite to digestion 
and health, and the method of its supply is of great 
importance, especially where a variety of succulent feeds 
is not included in the ration. The quantity of water 
which swine consume varies according- to their ages 
and the character of their feeds. This was indicated 
by experiments at the Indiana station, reported (Bul- 
letin No. 70) as follows: "Our experiments to deter- 
mine the quantity of water consumed by pigs were 
conducted during the month of March. Four lots 
were fed. Lot one received corn ; lot two, wheat ; 
lot three, corn and wheat ; and lot four, soaked wheat. 
Each pig also received 3 pounds of skimmed m ;i, < per 
day. Each pig in lot one drank 2.65 pounds of water; 
in lot two, 5.2 pounds; in lot three, 3.9 pounds; and lot 
four, 5.3 pounds of water per day." 

DANGER IN SURFACE WATER 

As a general rule, all surface water is more or less 
unhealthful and is liable to convey disease. This is true 
even of running water, if the stream crosses a road or 
another farm before reaching the hog lot. Cholera 

107 



408 SWINE LN AMERICA 

has frequently been spread in this manner, as has been 
strikingly demonstrated by the Indiana station in the bul- 
letin already quoted. The loss from cholera in the state 
of Indiana for the year ending June 30, 1897, was re ~ 
ported as practically 900,000 head. The Indiana station 
made an analysis of the figures for the years 1882- 1897, 
showing the losses for each township in the state, which 
quite fully demonstrated that cholera was spread by the 
streams. It was found that "the territory involved makes 
three long narrow strips in the state at distances suffi- 
ciently removed from each other, so that only a positive 
factor could show the marked differences that exist." 
These strips were on the Wabash and the north and south 
forks of the White river. The losses in the townships 
bordering- on the rivers were found to be 33 per cent to 
1 i_' per cent greater than in the townships of the second 
tier from the river, and from 83 per cent to 208 per cent 
greater than in those of the third tier. A significant fact 
gleaned from investigations made in 1895 and 1896 by 
the station was that nearly everyone of the breeders of 
pure-bred swine whose herds escaped cholera were users 
of well water, and that one of the surest means of 
preventing the distribution of hog cholera is the use of 
deep-well water. 

The Indiana station has made a number of investiga- 
tions into the losses of swine arising from access to a 
water supply of unhealth fill or otherwise improper char- 
acter, and the conclusion reached from these was that 
such losses are greater by far than those which come 
through an insufficient supply of water. Bulletin No. 70, 



WATER, SLOP AND SWILL 4C><) 

c< >mmenting upon this, says : "The life cycle of the para- 
sites that affect animals, nearly always includes a stage 
of development outside of the body. Moisture is a 
necessary factor in their existence outside of the body 
and hence it is that they are found in large number in 
surface water, and are ingested ( taken up ) with it. Bac- 
teria can stand drying better than parasites, but must 
have water in which to multiply. It follows, then, that 
fewer parasitic diseases of stock will occur upon high 
pasture land when well water is furnished than upon 
bottom land where they must depend upon a supply from 
other sources. Such parasitic diseases as worms in hogs 
are largely due to surface water. 

"Whether water will act as an agent for the carrying 
of the germs of disease, the ova, larvae and special stages 
of parasites, will depend upon the sources from which 
the water is obtained. If it comes from a deep well 
that is properly protected, these organisms will not be 
present. If it is obtained from the surface, as small 
ponds, ditches and streams, they may be present. N< >t 
all surface waters are dangerous, but all are more or 
less exposed to infection and may become dangerous at 
any time. The time it becomes dangerous cannot be 
detected by the eye and may not be detected by laboratory 
tests. 

I "The earth acts as a filter for all germs that fall 
upon it, no matter what may be their character. Only 
a small per cent will pass through the first inch of soil, 
and a very small number will pass through the first 10 
feet. In the first few feet of soil most disease germs are 
destroyed by other forms of life that inhabit it, but should 



4io 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



they pass further down they are restrained only by the 
mechanical action of the earth. If, however, a soil be- 
comes saturated with germs, as for example in a barn- 
yard, or if the pollution is delivered below the surface, 
as in a cess-vault, little purification will take place and 
the germs may find their way into nearby wells. In 
order to be certain of the water supply, wells should 
penetrate an impermeable layer of earth, and the sides 
be perfectly sealed, as with the iron tubular forms, so 
that no water can gain entrance except from below. 
A tubular well 20 feet deep is a much deeper well, from 
a sanitary standpoint, than a dug well of the same depth. 
It is also true that a shallow well may produce pure 
water at one time and afterwards become contaminated 
because of the saturation of the soil with germs, either 
by the barnyard or vault." 

The Indiana station has made tests to obtain an idea 
of the number of germs which may be found in water, 
and the following table (Bulletin No. 70) shows the 
range in number of germs found in a cubic centimeter, 
which is about one-half thimbleful : 

NUMBER OF 
SOURCE. fiKRMS PER CV. CrST. 

Very filthy hog wallow 2,680,000 

Ordinary hog wallow 730,000 to 1,420,000 

Wabash river about La Fayette 12,000 to 32,000 

Wabash river below LaFayette tt2,ooo to 390,000 

Clean looking pond 290,000 

Filthy watering trough 248,000 

Stock troughs 5,000 to 21,000 




r 




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ci 




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03 


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w 

§1 
8* 



O a 

§1 



WATER, SLOP AND SWILL 41 1 

\r\ii!i:u of 

SOURCE. GERMS PEB CU. (\r. 

Tile drains 8,000 

Six cisterns without filters. . . . 5,000 to 91,000 

Four cisterns with filters 580 to 3,000 

Dug well receiving surface 

drainage 420,000 

Dug well 14 feet deep in corner 

of unprotected barn lot 398,000 

Eight tubular wells 60 to 150 

feet deep 4 to 16 

PONDS AND WALLOWS 

Where it is found desirable to use water from a sur- 
face source, the best plan is to construct a pond which 
will afford a minimum of danger, and to fence it so that 
the stock cannot get at it directly. The water may be 
supplied in a trough, through a pipe in the dam. 

Stockmen differ widely as to the advisability of hog 
wallows, some of the most successful breeders heartily 
favoring them, while by others they are vehemently 
opposed. Some maintain that a wallow is a benefit and 
almost as necessary as the feed trough, and others would 
not permit one on their farms. W. H. Haskell, warden 
of the Kansas State Penitentiary, says that 25 years' 
experience in raising hogs in large and small herds has 
convinced him that the first step to take in arrang- 
ing a hog lot or pasture, is to fence out any running 
or pond water so securely that the hogs cannot get 
to it. A herd of 600 hogs is maintained at the Kan- 
sas Penitentiary, and Mr. Haskell says that prior to 



4 I2 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



the adoption of this plan, considerable loss was expe- 
rienced from cholera and other diseases, and that exclu- 
sion from all surface water apparently put an end to 
such losses. A. J. Lovejoy says : "I have a good many 
lots and not a water hole in them. Hogs will stand 
more traveling if kept dry. They may be kept from 
getting overheated by having good shade. We use tem- 
porary sheds 1 6 feet square, covered with brush so the 
water may leak through, but they never get muddy." 

On the contrary, N. H. Gentry says : "Creating a breed 
of hogs that do not like to wallow is going outside of 
nature. People take mud baths for rheumatism. You 
may have a clean brook, but the hogs won't like it. I 
built boxes for them to bathe in, and 5 minutes after 
the hogs got out they would be dry. Earth is a good 
disinfectant. I do not believe in a filthy place, but I 
never saw a hog that did not like a mudhole, and when 
he gets in it he does not want water but wants to 
wallow in the mud. It cleans the scurf from his skin. 
If before taking him to an exhibition you let a hog 
wallow in mud, you secure a skin finish you cannot 
obtain in any other way. Nothing is more soothing 
than mud. I tried to believe for years that it was not 
for the hog's good, but I tell you that depriving a hog of 
tin's mud bath is against nature. Nature is a pretty 
risky thing either to play or fight with. I do not believe 
nil stiff hogs have rheumatism. I had an imported sow 
that had never eaten corn in her life, and she foundered 
and to her death was stiff; as plain a case of foundering 
as I ever saw. I do not believe in fighting with nature. 
What is better than to have the hogs go to a shady place 



WATER, SLOP AND SWILL 4T3 

and wallow, without too much water? I believe in mud 
baths, but I keep my hogs away from manure heaps, and 
always have shade over the wallows." 

PROVIDING PONDS 

A plan for a pond to furnish drinking- water has been 
suggested by the Oklahoma experiment station (Bulletin 
No. 66) as follows : 

''A pond that is to furnish drinking water for stock 
should be fenced and the stock be kept out. They should 
drink from a tank supplied with water from the pond 
through a pipe under the dam and leading to the bottom 
of the pond. In building a pond, one of the first steps is 
to place the pipe that is to conduct the water from the 
pond to the tank where the stock is to drink. This pipe 
should be put into the ground about two feet and ex- 
tended 12 or 15 feet beyond the line where the bottom 
of the dam will come on the inside. Special pains should 
be taken to pack the earth well in the trench around the 
pipe, for if this is not done, water is very likely to seep 
out under the dam through this ditch, and a seep like this, 
once started, is almost impossible to stop. A \V\ inch 
pipe should be used. On the end in the pond, an upright 
piece of pipe that will extend two or three feet above the 
bottom of the pond should be attached. A substantial 
screen of some kind should be put over the end of the 
upright pipe. A cast guard such as is used on the bot- 
tom of a pipe in a well is good for the purpose, but 
should not have the gauze screen inside that is commonly 
used in the well. The guard may be wrapped outside 



4T4 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



with coarse galvanized wire screen. It is well to fur- 
ther protect this outlet pipe and screen by setting four 
posts in a square around the pipe and about two feet 
from it. Coarse wire screen may be used to inclose the 
space between the posts, or old boards may be put on if 
good-sized cracks are left. This will prevent the outlet 
from being covered so soon when the conditions are such 
that the pond fills in with the wash brought down with 
the water. The pipe should extend 20 to 30 feet outside 
of the dam, to enable placing the watering tank away 
from the soft, seepy ground that is often found just 
below the dam. It is well to put in a cut-off valve near 
the tank. 

"After the form and location of the base of the dam 
have been determined, the area of it should be plowed. 
If the soil is full of roots, or covered with grass, it is 
best to scrape it off as deep as the plowing and plow up 
the area again, leaving the base loose and rough before 
earth for the bank is put down. This will aid in pre- 
venting seeping at the bottom of the dam. To make a 
good strong embankment for a pond, the sides should 
slope about 45 degrees, or in other words, one foot in 
width to every one in height. If the labor is not very 
expensive and other work not crowding, i]/i to one 
will be a better pitch for the bank, particularly on 
the slope on the inside of the pond. The top of the 
dam should be three to four feet wide and after the dam 
has settled, one to three feet above the level of the pond 
when full. The height of the top above this level should 
be such that the water will not go over the dam during 
a freshet except at the spillway, as that is what washes 



WATER. SLOP AND SWILL 4 1 5 

many dams out. The necessary height of this will de- 
pend upon the size of the spillway and the volume of the 
water going into the pond at any time. When figuring 
on the height, allowance must be made for the embank- 
ment settling six to ten inches where the bank is eight 
to 12 feet deep. In building up the embankment the 
earth should be put on in uniform layers regularly 
placed, keeping the bank about level. This will insure 
more uniform settling or packing of the earth and the 
dam will not be as apt to leak. While the embankment 
is new it is easily washed down on the inside of the 
pond by the waves. In a few months, half of a good- 
sized dam has been cut down and washed back into the 
pond in this way. It is true that this washing down 
by the waves continues year after year, so the in- 
side of the clam should be set to Bermuda grass and 
water sedges and willows at once. But to protect the 
bank until the willows and grass get a start it should 
be riprapped with brush or old boards, if possible. The 
Bermuda grass will make a fine covering for the top and 
outside of the dam as well, and should be put on when 
the dam is built. 

"The spillway or overflow should be large enough to 
insure the water in the time of a freshet being taken care 
of without going over the top of the dam. Where pos- 
sible, the spillway should be on the undisturbed soil, so 
as to prevent as much as possible, washing out. 
Wherever placed, it should be well sodded with Bermuda 
grass or some other plant that will bind the soil and keep 
it from eroding. Where ponds are located below cul- 
tivated fields, considerable difficulty will be experienced 



_j. 1 6 SWINE IN AMERICA 

oecause of the soil washing in and filling np the pond. 
Such trouble may be obviated to a large degree by so con- 
st ructing the pond that the spillway will be at the back 
end of the pond where the water enters it. This can be 
done by extending wings out on either or both ends of 
the dam. A pond so constructed does not allow the cur- 
rent of water carrying the wash to flow into the pond and 
deposit the soil there. Instead, the current flows around 
the pond and carries the sediment with it or deposits it 
at the mouth of the pond, where it does no harm. 

"Generally the pond should be fenced as soon as com- 
pleted and all stock kept out. The pond fence should be 
such that it will turn all kinds of stock, including" little 
pigs, if the pond is near the barns. It is advisable to 
leave quite a margin between the pond and the fence, 
which can be set to trees. In such a location, the trees 
will make a fine growth. 

"In locating a pond, many think it must be in a ravine 
where a torrent of water runs when it rains. Really, a 
better place is where there is a gentle swale in the field. 
It may require handling a little more earth in building in 
the latter place, but it will not be as apt to fill up and can 
be better controlled. By taking the earth out of the bot- 
tom to build the banks, a deep pond can be made, which 
is desirable. The tank should be supplied with a float 
valve so that the tank is kept full at all times. For such 
a place an eight or ten-barrel tank is large enough." 

A CHEAP HOG WATERER 

James A. Pulley, an Iowa hog raiser, uses a home- 
made device for watering, which he describes as follows: 



WATER, SI. (il' AMI SWILL 417 

"I have a galvanized sheet iron pan 2 feet square and 
6 inches deep, flaring a little at the top. Take a tight 
oil barrel and with a 5-8 inch bit, bore two holes in the 
side so that when the barrel is placed in the pan the holes 
will be 1 inch below the pan's top. Bore a 2-inch 
hole in the top of the barrel. Place the barrel in the 
pan, cork tightly the two holes at the bottom, and fill the 
barrel with water. Then cork the hole at the top and 
pull out the corks below. The water will run into the 
pan, cover the holes at the bottom, and will then stop 
until lowered by drinking again. The pan should sit 
level on a platform live or six feet square. The hogs 
will drink at the corners. I have used three different 
kinds of patent hog waterers, but this is better than all,, 
and cheaper." 

SLOP, AND ITS ADVANTAGES 

There is a wide difference between slop and swill. 
Slop is properly a hog's relish, while swill is too fre- 
quently nothing more than water polluted with unhealtli- 
ful refuse. The term swill may embrace a wide variety 
of feed or drink, ranging from ordinary dishwater to 
a mixture of milk, table scraps, soapsuds and other 
kitchen refuse, while slop is a combination of a ground 
feed or feeds, with water or milk. A supply of whole- 
some swill in connection with other feeds may be ex- 
tremely valuable, but in a condition of decay, rancid, 
and mainly filth, it may result in a loss of high-price<l 
animals. Slop, however, may be considered as always in 
order. 



418 SWINE IN AMERICA 

As a rule, a thick slop is in various ways of greater 
feeding value than that which contains a large proportion 
of water. "We favor the practice of feeding thick slop 
to hogs," says James Atkinson, "for the reason that there 
is no special advantage in compelling a hog to take a lot 
of water into his system in order to get enough food. 
One is more apt to throw a hog's digestive system out 
of order feeding thin slop than is the case where the 
slop is thick, for the reason that there is not the same 
opportunity for the fluids of the mouth to act on the 
starchy part of the food. In cold weather it is especially 
desirable that only thick slop be fed, because nothing can 
be worse than to rill a hog up with a lot of water for 
which his system has no use." 

EFFECT OF WATER IN SLOP 

The question as to how thin slop should be made was 
taken up in an experiment at the Indiana station (Bul- 
letin No. 86), in which 16 pure-bred Chester White and 
Berkshire pigs were divided into four lots of equal num- 
ber and fed varying rations. Lot one was given the food 
dry in the trough ; lot two the grain mixed with its 
weight of water, and lots three and four were given 
grain mixed with twice and three times its weight of 
water respectively. Each lot was also provided all the 
additional water they would drink, and was furnished 
salt and ashes. The feed used was a mixture of equal 
parts of corn meal and shorts for the first of the experi- 
ment, and hominy feed was substituted for the corn 
meal in the last month. The experiment began in Janu- 
ary and was continued 146 days. The average weight of 




Tamworth Sow, Verty Queen 3001 

Grand champion at World's Fair, St. Louis, 1904 




A Tamworth Gilt 



WATER, SLOP AND SWILL 



419 



each pig in the beginning was about 60 pounds. The 
average daily gain and feed per pound of gain was as 
follows : 





Average daily- 
gain, pounds. 


Feed per 
pound, pounds. 


Cost per pound 
of gain, cents. 


Lot 1 


1.08 
1.10 
1.10 
1.05 


3.59 
3.80 
3.74 
3.75 


2 87 


Lot 2 

L<>t 3 

Lot 4 


3.04 
2.99 
3.00 



In summarizing results, the report on this said : "There 
was no material difference in the appearance of the pigs 
in either lot, so far as quality is concerned, and so far 
as this one experiment goes the use of about twice 
the amount of water to grain indicated a satisfactory pro- 
portion. In view of the fact that the pigs fed dry grain 
made slightly the best gains, it would appear that there 
is really no gain in feeding the pigs a slop instead of a 
dry grain, excepting as the feeder may regard it a matter 
of convenience." 

DANGER IN HOTEL AND KITCHEN SWILL 



If refuse from the kitchens of hotels, restaurants, and 
such places is available, the hog raiser who desires to 
utilize this as a feed should remember that it is of value 
only when care is taken that it contains no material which 
will unfavorably affect his hogs. Broken dishes or glass 
and other dangerous substances are frequently thrown 
in with kitchen scraps and if the dishwater is not kept 
separate, the washing powders and cheap soaps so often 
used in it are likely to have harmful effects. These are 



J.2I I 



SWINE IX AMERICA 



sometimes serious enough to suggest an outbreak of 
cholera, and instances are referred to in a bulletin en- 
titled "Powdered Soap as a Cause of Death Among 
Swill-Fed Hogs," issued by the Cornell experiment sta- 
tion (Bulletin No. 141). These cases led to experi- 
ments with powdered soap, which showed conclu- 
sively that swill- fed hogs were poisoned by being 
given dishwater containing washing powders used in 
kitchens. The soap powders contain from 50 to 55 per 
cent carbonate of sodium, or what is known to the trade 
as sal soda or washing soda. 

The following conclusions were reached: "In view of 
this danger, it seems better to abandon altogether the 
habit of giving dishwater to hogs. Although the feed- 
ing of garbage is generally condemned, the scraps of 
vegetables and table refuse could, perhaps, if properly 
collected, be used with safety. But certainly pure water 
is a much more wholesome drink, even for swine, than 
dirty dishwater. When the subject of 'swill feeding' 
as a business is studied, and the conditions as they exist 
are understood, the wonder is, not that some of the hogs 
die, but rather that any of them live. 

"It is not presumed that the poisoning by carbonate of 
sodium is the only cause of death among swill-fed hogs. 
Other destructive agencies are liable to be found in the 
decomposing garbage and swill collected from the 
sources mentioned. This is significant and it points to 
the undesirableness of feeding garbage to animals. In 
fact, if the total losses it occasions are counted, it is 
questionable if anything is gained in this attempt to save 
waste products. Again, it has long been recognized that 



WATER, SLOP AND SWILL 4-iI 

the feeding of garbage to hogs furnishes one of the most 
favorable channels for the introduction of hog cholera 
and swine plague bacteria. As a rule, wherever we find 
hogs in clean, well-ventilated pens and fed. upon whole- 
some food, we find thrift and health, and, conversely, 
where these animals are surrounded with disgusting 
filth and fed upon decomposing swill or other unwhole- 
some food, we expect to, and often do, find disease." 

SUCCESS WITH HOTEL REFUSE 

There are, nevertheless, authorities wdio believe that 
hotel and restaurant refuse may be so carefully sorted as 
to be valuable. This is the opinion of L. N. Bonham, 
who says : 

"The table and kitchen waste of hotels and restau- 
rants contains so much valuable feed that may become a 
real bonanza to one who has the skill to handle it suc- 
cessfully, that we have taken some pains to look up the 
experience of several feeders. In each case their first 
efforts were discouraging. One man has been in the busi- 
ness five years; he began by hauling the refuse from 
hotels and restaurants in a water-tight tank. This he 
abandoned for covered barrels, that he might better as- 
sort the feed. He also paid the cooks and dish-washers 
to induce them to throw the dishwater, broken glass, 
empty cans, lye and the like into one barrel and the table 
scraps and kitchen trimmings into another barrel. He 
carefully examined all, and used only that which he 
deemed suitable, and the rest was thrown into a sewer. 
He was exceedingly careful in the beginning to feed 
newly purchased animals only a small quantity of the. 



4 2 2 SWINE IN AMERICA 

hotel refuse, along with dry corn. After ten days or two 
weeks they were given no corn. He found that even 
brood sows on this feed farrowed strong litters and 
suckled them well. If a sow gets too much, the pigs 
scour in a day or two thereafter. By good judgment and 
care not to overfeed, and to see that the feed is not too 
washy, his sows turn off strong litters. He supplements 
the hotel feed with bran or middlings and corn, as 
needed. He saves the best for the sows and pigs. 

"The feeder in question is careful to have plenty of 
trough room, and advises a board or cement floor about 
the troughs, as the hogs will even eat the earth saturated 
with the juices of meat. In winter he feeds clover hay, 
and in very cold weather adds some corn. He advises 
finishing by feeding both corn and hotel refuse the last 
four, weeks. In winter the swill is fed warm. In sum- 
mer all slop is kept well covered from flies. He gets 
three to four barrels of swill a day, turns off 125 fat hogs 
annually, and buys only one boar each year. He is care- 
ful to watch for paper, strings, broken glass and crock- 
ery that might be in the swill. He says his hogs never 
choke on bones. He finds he does not need to feed salt 
and ashes or use any lice-killers. The alkali and the 
grease in the slop keep down vermin." 

SWILL FOR BROOD SOWS 

Danger to pregnant sows sometimes lurks in swill and 
kitchen refuse. A. J. Lovejoy says: "I have known of 
cases where sows during the breeding season were fed 
such refuse and not one of them could be got in pig." 



WATER. SLOP AM) SWILL 



423 



Here is a trough, with guards, described in the Iowa 
Register and Farmer. It is made preferably of 2-inch 
planks, 12 to 14 inches wide. For the guards, planks 




ONE STYLE OF PARTITIONED TROUGH 



are cut to 4 or 5 feet in length, and the proper slant ob- 
tained by sawing from the corner edge of one end to the 





OTHER STYLES OF PARTITIONED WOOD AND CAST IRON 

TROUGHS 

opposite corner edge of the other end, after which the 
wide end is cut out as shown, to fit the shape of the 
trough, to which it is securely toe-nailed. The front is 



424 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



fastened to a plank or heavy board, running- full length 
of the trough, and against which the guard-ends face. 
The spout through which slop is emptied into the trough 




A GOOD STATIONARY TROUGH WITH PLATFORM 

is made of one-inch boards, with the upper, or receiving, 
end large enough to take the three-quarter circle of a 
large bucket. This rests on the top of the guard face- 
board, which is slightly notched to receive it, and is held 
up by legs nailed to the side, and reaching to the floor. 




A WELL-PROTECTED TROUGH 



The sketch illustrated above shows a very simple but 
useful stationary trough, with a three or four-foot feed- 
ing platform adjacent. It is nailed to the 4x4 posts, 



WATER, SLOP AND SWILL 4 2 5 

which have holes in them for holts, and a hole in each end 
of the six or eight-inch partition hoard for the holts, 
which will hold it higher or lower as may he necessary 
according to the size of the hogs, to preven their climb- 
ing over. 




AN INVERTIBLE TROUGH 

The trough shown above is one that is firmly fas- 
tened in place and at the same time it can be turned 
over for cleaning. It can be made of two planks, one 
6 inches wide and the other 7 inches, each 6 feet long, 
and for the ends two 6-inch boards each 2 x /i feet long. 
Fasten these between two stakes with a bolt. Cut the 
lower side of one of the ends off round, so that it can be 




A HANGING GATE OVER A TROUGH 



426 



.SWINE IN AMERICA 



turned over readily. For large hogs this trough should 
be made larger and heavier than for pigs or shotes. 

The next figure illustrates a useful hanging gate to 
prevent hogs from clambering into the trough and buck- 
ets when being slopped. The gate and trough can be 
placed between two panels of fence, and will serve in 
lieu of a panel. 

This illustration is of an unbreakable, indestructible 
trough made of 1-8-inch-thick boiler steel. It is made 
5 feet long, 13 inches wide and 7 inches deep, or larger. 
It is kept on sale by dealers in such goods. 




mMJ. 



AN UNBREAKABLE TROUGH 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Swine Rearing with Dairying 

Where dairies or butter factories are, or where the 
milch cow is a factor for other purposes than the sale of 
milk as such, the pig" is a most useful and profitable ad- 
junct. Upon the skim milk, judiciously used with other 
and more substantial foods, he thrives, grows and fat- 
tens, utilizing- a by-product of tremendous volume which 
without the pig would represent little of available value. 
It is said that the skim milk from the butter factories of 
New York alone amounts to nearly a billion pounds in a 
single year. The use of this skim milk does much to 
give relief from monotony so common in the hog's feed- 
ing, besides adding to the returns from the other or main 
foods with which it is given, and every hog raiser is glad 
to have it. 

VALUE OP SKIM MILK AND BUTTERMILK 

The editor of Hoard's Dairyman has formulated a 
simple rule for estimating the value of skim milk. He 
says: "To get at the value of skim milk in pig feeding, 
if used alone, multiply five pounds of gain by the price 
of live weight pork in the local market; or if fed in 
conjunction with corn or barley meal, credit one pound 
of the increased gain to the skim milk. If pork is worth 
five cents a pound on foot, we have 25 cents a 100 pounds 



42S SWINE IN AMERICA 

for tne skim milk when fed alone; or, if fed in conjunc- 
tion with corn or barley meal, six pounds of gain, or 30 
cents a 100 pounds." 

This is based on the estimates that a bushel of corn 
meal or corn will return ten pounds of pork and that 20 
pounds of skim milk, fed alone, will yield one pound of 
pork. It takes into consideration also the interesting 
fact that if a bushel of corn alone will make ten pounds 
of pork, and 100 pounds of skim milk by itself will give 
five pounds of pork, the two combined will, on an aver- 
age, produce 18 pounds instead of 15 pounds of pork. 
This peculiar and valuable effect has been noticed by 
many feeders, but has never been precisely explained. It 
is surmised, however, that the combination acts to stim- 
ulate the appetite and digestion so that, in the end, a 
larger proportion of the feed is digested or assimilated. 

Skim milk and buttermilk are considered of practically 
equal feeding value except for extremely young animals. 
The prices at which they are sold by butter factories and 
skim stations depend much upon locality and conditions, 
and range from about seven to 25 cents per 100 pounds. 
Aside from the fat, the quantity of digestible nutrients in 
either is about equivalent to that in the cow's milk, which, 
when of average quality, contains y/> per cent of protein 
and 5 per cent of carbohydrates. 

It will be seen that as skim milk affords less than ten 
per cent of digestible matter, it must, by itself, be an 
unsatisfactory and insufficient food. This has been 
proved by numerous experiments. Those made at the 
Utah station (Bulletin No. 57) showed that "from the 
standpoint of quick returns, the milk and grain ration 




Illinois Experiment Station Hog House — Exterior 







Illinois Experiment Station Hog House— Interior 




Individual Hog House at the Illinois Experiment Station- 
Set Up 




Individual Hog House at the Illinois Experiment Station- 
Taken Down 



SWIN'E REARING WITH DAIRYING 



429 



would enable a person to turn over two crops of hogs to 
one when the hogs were fed on milk alone." The Utah 
station made seven experiments comparing grain and 
milk rations with others of milk alone and grain alone, 
embracing tests with grain in several combinations with 
the milk. The grain used was equal parts of corn and 
wheat, corn meal and wheat bran, wheat and bran, barley 
and wheat bran, and also ground wheat alone. The grain 
or meal used alone was made into a thin slop with water. 
The experiments were conducted at different periods of 
the year, mainly in summer and autumn. In addition 
to the grain or milk rations, the hogs had plenty of 
water, with access to charcoal and wood ashes ; they 
were fed twice daily. A comparison of the various ra- 
tions of skim milk alone, milk and grain together, 
and grain alone is given in the following summary of 
the Utah experiments : 



COMPARISONS OF SKIM MILK FEEDING 



Ration 


Number 
of tests. 


Number 
of pigs. 


Average 
weight at 
beginning. 


Average 
gain. 


Number 

of days 

fed." 


Average 
da lb- 
gain. 


Milk and grain 

G -ain 

Milk- 


8 

5 
4 


27 

IS 
11 


Pounds 
40 
63 
39 


Pounds 
169 
110 

74 


133 
121 
108 


Pounds 

1.27 

.91 

.68 







Ration 



Milk and grain 

Grain 

Milk 



Feed eaten per 
100 pounds gain. 



Grain. 



Pounds 
292 
470 



Milk. 



Pounds 
768 



Dry mat- 
ter per 

100 

pounds 

gain. 



Pounds 
334 
421 
298 



Digesti- 
ble dry 
matter 
per 100 
pounds 
gam. 



Pounds 
258 
319 
285 



100 

pounds 
milk 
equal 

pounds 
gain. 



Pounds 
23.2 



Average amount 

feed eaten per 

day. 



Grain. 



Pounds 
3.73 
4.41 



Milk. 



Pounds 
9.74 



22.28 



4^0 SWINE IN AMERICA 

Regarding the feeding of skim milk on the farm, J. 
H. Denham, a Michigan farmer, has made the follow- 
ing suggestions: "Hog farming in connection with dairy 
farming, when the skim milk can be kept at home, is a 
wonderfully remunerative side line for the farmer, espe- 
cially where careful methods of feeding are practiced. 
When skim milk is carried out promiscuously and thrown 
in a trough and the hogs are allowed to fill themselves 
with the sweet, pure skim milk, I do not esteem it of 
much value, probably ten cents per 100 pounds would be 
the limit, while I feel sure from my own experience that 
with about 30 cents' worth of good judgment along with 
the 100 pounds of skim milk, it is worth 40 cents. Now 
30 cents' worth of judgment without the skim milk would 
not do any better than ten cents' worth of skim milk 
without the judgment — they should be mixed, and how to 
mix them is what every farmer should try to get at. 

"For feeding, say, 12 head of 100-pound shotes, I take 
a 50-gallon barrel, well protected from the weather — 
which it can be by setting it either in the cellar or the 
ground, or encasing it with a box filled around the bar- 
rel with sawdust — and well covered. The latter way I 
like well in the summer season. Now take a ten-gallon 
can of milk — either skim milk or buttermilk will do — and 
to this add one bushel of white (wheat) middlings, and 
after stirring well, add about 20 gallons of water. 

"To get the best results, keep warm in winter and cool 
in summer. Feed to 12 100-pound shotes about five 
gallons of this three times a day, with a little corn, night 
and morning — and be sure after each feeding to replenish 
the barrel with middlings and milk and water, to keep 



SWINE REARINC WITH DAIRYING 43 r 

the mess of about the same consistency as at first. At 
the noon hour, water and middlings alone may be added, 
unless you have plenty of milk. Regularity in feeding- 
hours and in quality and quantity of feed should be ob- 
served. 

"I have no hesitancy in saying that the skim milk used 
in this mixture will return to the feeder 40 cents for 
every 100 pounds of skim milk or buttermilk used, more 
than the other ingredients would without it.'' 

DAIRY BY-PRODUCTS AND CARBONACEOUS FEEDS 

A steady routine of carbonaceous feeding stuffs pro- 
duces listless, unthrifty pigs. When skim milk or 
buttermilk is at hand a means of offering variety is 
afforded which will give the pigs a better appetite and 
induce them to eat more fat-making food than would 
otherwise be the case. If skim milk is available to form 
a ration with corn meal, either with or without other 
feeds, it will make a valuable and economical addition. 
This has been confirmed by numerous tests at the agricul- 
tural college experiment stations, some of which have ex- 
tended through a number of years. 

The relation between corn meal and skim milk in ra- 
tions with and without the addition of wheat middlings 
was brought out in experiments at the Cornell station 
(Bulletin No. 199), covering a period of four years. The 
amount of feed required for 100 pounds of gain was as 
follows : 



43^ 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



FEEDING RELATIONS OF SKIM MILK, CORN MEAL AND 
MIDDLINGS 



Ration. 


Number 
of tests. 


Number 
of pigs. 


Feed required for 
100 pounds gain. 

Grain. Milk. 


Corn meal, middlings and milk. . . . 


17 
12 


81 
52 


Pounds 
273 
223 


Pounds 
1,016 
1,069 



In two years of experiments comparing the feeding 
of corn meal alone and with skim milk, the Tennessee 
station found (Bulletin No. 3, Volume XVI) that the 
profit when skim milk was used with corn meal was much 
greater than without it, despite the fact that the first cost 
was larger when the skim milk was added. In the fol- 
lowing summary of the Tennessee experiments, corn 
meal is figured at an average price of $23.50 per ton, 
and skim milk at $4 per ton : 

RESULTS FROM CORN MEAL WITTT AND WITHOUT SKIM 

MILK 





Number 
of pigs. 


Total 
gain. 


Average 
daily 
gain. 


Total feed eaten. 


Ration. 


Grain. 


Milk. 




7 


Pounds 
119 
309 


Pounds 
0.50 
1.35 


Pounds 
489 
481 


Pounds 


Corn meal and skim milk 


3,686 



Ration. 


Feed per 100 
pounds gain. 


Total 

cost of 
feed. 


Cost of 

feed per 

100 pounds 

gain. 


Profit 




Grain. 


Milk. 


group. 1 




Pounds 
410 
160 


Pounds 
1,190 


$5.75 
12.95 


$5.80 
4.60 


$1.05 


Corn meal and skim milk 


4.9o 



1 Value of manure and cost of care not considered. 



SWINE REARING WITH DAIRYING 433 

Previous experiments at the Tennessee station (Bul- 
letin No. 1, Volume XV) had been made to compare corn 
meal with other rations involving skim milk and whey. 
The first lot in the following table was fed a ration of 
12 pounds of corn meal and 20 pounds of water, which 
was increased to 16 pounds of corn meal and 32 pounds 
of water later on. The second lot was given 12 pounds 
of corn meal and 36 pounds of skim milk a day at first, 
and 16 pounds of corn meal with 80 pounds of skim milk 
toward the end of the experiment. The third lot was 
given a daily ration during the early part of the test of 
eight pounds of corn meal and 24 pounds of skim 
milk, which was later changed to 3^ pounds of 
wheat meal, 12^2 pounds of corn meal and 80 pounds 
of whey. The first ration of the last lot was com- 
posed of 5 1-3 pounds of corn meal, eight pounds 
of cowpea hay, and 16 pounds of skim milk: this was 
changed to 11 pounds of corn meal; three pounds of 
chopped cowpea hay, and 53^ pounds of skim milk. 
The last lot proved an unprofitable one, but the experi- 
ments demonstrated the high value of dairy by-products 
in connection with corn and wheat meals. The pigs 
averaged about 135 pounds at the beginning of the tests, 
when they were bought on the market at \Yi cents 
a pound. They were sold for 5^2 cents a pound, and at 
that price it was estimated that 66.7 cents per bushel was 
received for the corn used. In the following summary 
of results, skim milk was valued at 22 cents per too 
pounds, and whey at half that sum, with the following 
prices per ton for the other feeds : Corn meal, $17 ; wheat 
meal. $25; cowpea hay, $13.50. 



434 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



RESULTS WITH SKIM-MILK AND WHEY 



Ration. 


Number 

of 

pigs. 


Total 
gain. 


Number 

of days 

fed. 


Average 
daily- 
gain. 


Total 

dry 
matter 
eaten. 


Dry 

matter 

per 100 

pounds 

gain. 


Corn meal 


3 
3 

3 

2 


Pounds 
186 
414 

402 

246 


60 
60 

60 

60 


Pounds 
1 
2.3 

2.2 

2.0 


Pounds 

77S 

1.213 

1,090 

1,017 


Pounds 


Corn meal and skim milk 
Mixed grain, skim milk 
and whey 


416 
293 


Corn meal, cowpea hay 
and skim milk 


271 
414 


Ration. 


Total 
cost of 
feed. 


Cost of 

feed 

per 100 

pounds 

gain. 


Net 
profit. 1 


Slaughter test. 


Dressed 
weight. 


Intes- 
tinal fat 


Corn meal 


$7.39 
17.61 
13.84 
12.97 


$3.90 
4.20 
3.40 
5.20 


$7.69 
12.06 

14.89 
4.12 


Per cent 
73.6 
78.5 
76.2 

77.7 


Pounds 


Corn meal and skim milk. . . 
Mixed grain, skim milk and whey. . 
Corn meal, cowpea hay, skim milk 


13 

16 

16 

9 


1 Value of manure ar 


d cost of 


care and 


feed cons 


dered. 







American experimental work with skim milk for 
swine, as conducted up to 1903, is treated at length in 
Part II of Bulletin No. 47 of the Bureau of Animal 
Industry, United States Department of Agriculture, and 
the four foregoing- tables are the results of summaries 
made by Rommel for that bulletin. 



SKIM MILK WITH OTHER FEEDS 

The beneficial effect of skim milk on digestion is ob- 
served when it is made a ration with other feeds than 
corn. Numerous experiments on tin's line have been 
conducted at the Central experimental farm of Canada 
(Bulletin No. 33), and these are summarized in the 
following tables on pages 435, 436 and 437. 




View of A. T. Garth's Cement Block Hog House 




Illinois Experiment Station Hog House with Sloping Roof 



SWINE REARING WITH DAIRYING 435 

The meal referred to in the foregoing table was equal 
parts by weight of ground wheat, barley, rye and wheat 
bran. One of the conclusions from these experiments 
was that "skim milk is a most valuable adjunct to the 
grain ration when hard flesh is desired." It was found 
"in practically every case that the swine which had skim 
milk as a part of their ration were healthier and more 
vigorous than those which had grain without the skim 
milk." 

Trials at the Hatch (now the Massachusetts) experi- 
ment station (Eleventh Annual Report) resulted in the 
following recommendations of desirable rations in which 
skim milk is used for growing swine : 

DESIRABLE RATIONS FOR GROWING PIGS USING SKIM 

MILK 



Weight of pigs. 



20 to 60 pounds 

60 to 100 pounds 

100 to 180 pounds 



20 to 60 pounds 

60 to 100 pounds 

100 to 180 pounds 



Rations. 



3 ounces of corn meal to each quart of milk. 
6 ounces of corn meal to each quart of milk. 
8 ounces of corn meal to each quart of milk. 



Milk at disposal, plus mixture of one-third corn meal, one-third 
wheat bran and one-third gluten meal, to satisfy appetites. 

Milk at disposal, plus mixture of one-half corn meal, one-quarter 
wheat bran and one-quarter gluten meal, to satisfy appetites. 

Milk at disposal, plus mixture of two-thirds corn meal, one-sixth 
wheat bran and one-sixth gluten meal, to satisfy appetites. 



SKIM MILK VS. LINSEED AND GLUTEN MEAL 

The comparative values of skim milk and linseed and 
gluten meals were tested in feeding swine at the Mary- 
land station (Bulletin No. 63). A lot of six pigs was fed 
hominy chops, ground corn fodder, gluten meal and "old 



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438 S\\ INE IN AMERICA 

process" linseed-oil meal. Another lot of the same num- 
ber was given the same ration, except for the substitu- 
tion of skim milk for the gluten and linseed meals. The 
nutritive ratio was practically the same in the two ra- 
tions, but in the ration in which skim milk was mixed 
_>5 per cent less grain was required than in the other. 
With the skim milk ration the average daily gain was 
1.54 pounds, and with the other 1.12 pounds. 

SOIIR MILK 

Skim milk which has soured may be fed with good 
results, and experiments seem to show that if there is 
any difference in the feeding value of sweet and sour 
skim milk, it is probably in favor of rather than against 
the latter. This was the case in tests at the Vermont 
station (Sixth Annual Report, p. 49), where an experi- 
ment concluding two years of investigation was sum- 
marized as follows : "Four pigs on sweet skim milk dur- 
ing the growing period, from May 23 to October 13, 
gained 172, 177, 179 and 187 pounds respectively, a total 
of 715 pounds. During the same time the four pigs on 
sour skim milk gained 171, 173, 166, and 178 pounds, a 
total of 688 pounds. Thus, in each case the pig on sweet 
milk gained more than its mate on sour milk; an average 
of 6H, and a total of 27 pounds. If the experiment had 
stopped here, the verdict would have been decidedly in 
favor of sweet milk, but when the crowding for market 
began, results were just reversed. During the finishing- 
off process, from October 13 to November 11, the pigs 
on sweet milk gained yy, 65, 55 and 43 pounds, a total 
of 240 pounds; while the pigs on sour milk gained 82, 



SWIM'; REARING WITH DAIRYING -\_V> 

/J, /O and 51 pounds, a total of iy^ pounds, and a gain 
over the pigs on sweet milk of 35 pounds. It follows, 
then, that at the time of killing, the two sets of pigs had 
made substantially the same gain. A queer fact de- 
veloped when the pigs were killed, and one for which 
no satisfactory explanation has been given. Each pig- 
that had been fed sweet milk shrank more in dressing 
than its mate on sour milk. The percentages of shrink- 
age for the sweet milk pigs were 21, 16, 18 and 19, an 
average of 18 per cent. The sour milk pigs shrank [6, 
14, 17 and 11 per cent, an average of 14, or 4 per cent 
less than the pigs on sweet milk. This 4 per cent, or 
about eight pounds per pig, represents the total gain 
of the sour skim milk over the sweet skim milk. The 
difference in the results obtained from feeding sweet 
skim milk and sour is so little that not much can be 
claimed in favor of sour milk. Nor do we desire to 
claim any advantage from its use. The object of the 
experiment has been attained when it is shown, as these 
two years' work do show most conclusively, that sour 
skim milk is at least equal in feeding value to sweet skim 
milk." 

BUTTERMILK 

Skim milk and buttermilk are considered of equal 
value for swine. This was proved in tests by the Massa- 
chusetts experiment station (Bulletins Nos. 13 and 18), 
as has been the case wherever tried elsewhere. The com- 
parison, however, refers to pure buttermilk, and not the 
diluted or oversalted product which sometimes comes 
from the creamery. Buttermilk mixed with washings or 



4 (.O SWINE IN AMERICA 

other water is naturally of less value. An example of 
this is had when, as is sometimes the case, it is run into a 
tank and afterward pumped out or drawn from the bot- 
tom, for in that event the casein will be nearer the top 
and the buyer will obtain more water than he desires. 
Some creameries use washing powders which are almost 
certain to have a poisonous or other harmful effect. In 
buying buttermilk, the swine raiser should be sure he is 
getting that which is undiluted and not unwholesome. 

"To brood sows in pig," says Professor Henry, "do 
not feed over one pound of buttermilk for each two 
pounds of grain. For sows after farrowing, feed three 
or four pounds of buttermilk for each pound of corn 
meal given. For young pigs, feed the same proportions. 
For fattening hogs, do not feed over two or three pounds 
of buttermilk for each pound of corn supplied. Of 
course, if the buttermilk is abundant, one need not worry 
about utilizing it so closely as he would if it cost more, 
but, on the other hand, it will pay to keep a larger num- 
ber of hogs and thus get better returns than would fol- 
low with a limited number of animals and an excessive 
use of buttermilk." 

WHEY 

In the manufacture of cheese, most of the casein and 
fat are kept in the cheese and the whey is therefore of 
less value for feeding than kindred by-products. It is 
generally considered about half as valuable as skim milk. 
In Henry's "Feeds and Feeding," Danish experiments 
show 1,200 pounds of whey as equal to 100 pounds of 



SWINE REARING WITH DAIRYING 44T 

meal, but the whey used was from the manufacture of 
cheese from skim milk, and accordingly, of about as 
poor a quality as could be obtained. Professor Henry 
has averaged results at the Wisconsin experiment station 
and the Ontario agricultural college showing that jX^ 
pounds of whey will equal 100 pounds of grain. In these 
experiments it was found that 481 pounds of grain pro- 
duced 100 pounds of gain and 303 pounds of grain with 
1,398 pounds of whey produced 100 pounds of gain, so 
that 178 pounds of grain was saved by the use of 1,398 
pounds of whey. 

As to the composition of whey, and its use, Henry 
said : "Where full cream cheeses are made, ioo pounds of 
whey contain about .7 of a pound of mineral matter, 
.3 or .4 of a pound of fat, .5 of a pound of albumen, a 
little casein, and between three and four pounds of milk 
sugar, the remainder being water. This shows the food 
to be very watery. One great difficulty in using whey 
arises from the fact that it ferments easily, and the bar- 
rels or tanks in which the whey is handled become very 
foul and often very dangerous to the health of the ani- 
mal so fed. Overfeeding will generally be indicated 
by the pigs scouring; this should be avoided, even though 
whey be wasted. With whey, feed corn or corn meal 
and middlings. Do not grind the corn if the pigs handle 
it well otherwise." 

When whey is hauled to the farm, it is not advisable 
to use milk cans for that purpose, but barrels instead. 
Whey that has fermented, but has not become what is 
known as "rotten sour" may often be used as profitably 
as sweet whey. This should not be taken as a general 



44- SWINE IN AMERICA 

rule applicable to whey that is foul and manifestly unfit 
for any use as food. According' to analyses at the On- 
tario experimental farm (Twenty-third Annual Report), 
fermentation in whey is solely at the expense of the 
sugar content, and merely a trace of sugar is found in 
sour whey. Five experiments gave almost equally as 
good results with sour whey as with sweet, when fed to 
the hogs. A summary says : "A general review of the 
work, taking into consideration the health of the animals, 
their gains, the quality of their flesh, and the compo- 
sition of the sweet and sour whey, seems to point to 
the conclusion that fermentation does not seriously de- 
tract from the value of whey for pig feeding." 

Further experiments at the Ontario experimental 
farm (Twenty- fourth Annual Report), gave evidence of 
the value of whey in producing firm bacon, leading to 
this statement : "The evil effects arising from lack of 
exercise can be overcome by the judicious use of skim 
milk and whey. The amount of whey recommended is 
from two to 2^2 pounds to a pound of meal. Whey and 
skim milk appear to have a greater influence than exer- 
cise in producing firm bacon." This last statement, how- 
ever, was not offered as a definite conclusion. 

A disadvantage remarked in the use of whey lies in the 
danger of lameness or crippling of hogs through over- 
feeding. In such cases the joints become stiff and the 
lameness is serious. In an experiment at the Ontario ex- 
perimental farm (Twenty-third Annual Report) three 
shotes, averaging about 130 pounds each, were brought 
gradually to a full feed of two pounds of sweet whey to 
one of meal. The meal consisted of equal parts by 



SWINE REARING WITH DAIRYING 443 

weight 01 ground peas, barley and shorts. The animals 
became lame when full feed was reached, but re- 
covered quickly when the quantity of whey was de- 
creased. A similar lot given a like ration, except that 
the whey was sour, showed no lameness. However, it 
has been learned by years of experience that whey used 
intelligently has a high feeding value, and that hogs \^\ 
upon it produce a high quality of bacon. A very satis- 
factory method of feeding whey is to soak shorts or 
finely ground chop in it and feed three times a day. 
Shorts forms the best grain part of the ration until the 
hogs weigh about 80 pounds; after that, ground barley, 
corn and oats, with the coarsest of the hulls removed, 
answer well. Many 100-acre dairy farmers in Ontario 
sell from $500 to $800 worth of hogs annually and 
purchase comparatively little grain. These farmers sell 
practically no grain in its raw state, with the result 
that their land is becoming more productive year by year, 
which enables them to keep more cows and feed them 
better and thus secure an increasing annual revenue from 
their farms. Farmers who send milk to a cheese fac- 
tory and receive no revenue for the whey, either directly, 
or from the hogs fed upon it on their own farms, miss a 
considerable profit that rightly should be theirs. 

CHANGES SHOULD BE GRADUAL 

Any change from one kind of dairy by-product to 
another should be gradual, notwithstanding their being 
derived from the same base. This is particularly true 
when buttermilk is substituted for skim milk. Because 
equally good results may be obtained from either, it does 



444 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



not follow that a sudden change may be made from one 
to the other without risk. When deemed economical to 
substitute buttermilk for skim milk the change should be 
watched carefully. In considering the economy of such 
a change, it should be taken into account that if the skim 
milk is pasteurized, its value may be greater thereby 
through lessening the danger of tuberculosis. 

QUANTITY IN FEEDING 

No economy results from giving hogs all they will 
drink of any dairy by-product. There is, in fact, con- 
siderable danger of giving too much, especially to young 
pigs, aside from the wastefulness of the practice. '''We 
had the best returns," said Professor Henry, comment- 
ing on experiments at the Wisconsin station, "when we 
fed the hogs not over three pounds of skim milk for each 
pound of corn meal. On the limited supply there was a 
larger profit from the feed than if more of the skim milk 
was given. The same will be true of buttermilk." 

CLEANLINESS IMPORTANT 

Cleanliness is a requisite of success in using the by- 
products of dairy, creamery or cheese factory. If care 
is not exercised the results are sure to be unsatisfactory, 
and when so much liquid of this character is used, great- 
er caution will be necessary than would otherwise be 
needed to maintain healthful auarters and feeding con- 
veniences. 

A feature of hog feeding which has been assuming 
serious proportions in dairy sections is the tendency 
toward the spread of tuberculosis. This has become so 
marked that packers have refused to buy hogs known to 



SWINE REARING WITH DAIRYING 445 

be shipped from sections where tuherculosis was prev- 
alent. The hog with this disease is to all outward ap- 
pearances healthy, and may be the plumpest in a lot ; 
his real condition can be discovered only after killing, 
and for these reasons packers are suspicious of hogs 
marketed from dairying communities. When they trace 
affected shipments in a marked degree to certain locali- 
ties, their recourse lies in placing a ban upon hogs from 
those localities. This problem of tuberculosis is being 
extensively investigated in the hope that some practical 
means of preventing the resulting losses may be dis- 
covered. 

Where refuse, grease, milk, whey and other things 
that go to make up swill are left in the barrel day 
after day, bacterial growths develop, fermentation oc- 
curs, and chemical changes take place which oftentimes 
more than counteract by their detrimental action any 
value that the swill might have. Such filthy barrels are 
the most natural breeding places for disease germs. 
Scours is often caused by such uncleanliness. A breeder 
with a filthy swill barrel need not consider it an act of 
providence if his pigs suddenly sicken and die. It is 
his own willful act that is responsible. A filthy swill bar- 
rel is not alone unsightly, but dangerous. It should not 
have a place on any farm. Boiling water and an old 
broom applied once a week will do much toward keep- 
ing it sanitary, and to an extent presentable. 

DAIRYING AND WINTER PORK MAKING 

Leo C. Reynolds, a well-known Michigan swine 
grower and writer, even so far north as he is, is partial 



446 SWINE IN AMERICA 

to winter pork making, and says that especially where 
winter dairying is carried on it can be made a very prof- 
itable business. He writes. "If the milk is separated at 
the farm and the cream is sent to the factory, the by- 
product can be fed to the hogs with a good margin of 
profit. No calf has the ability to convert skim milk into 
profitable meat as readily as a thrifty pig. The pig, 
properly handled, will be ready for market in six months. 
Comfortably housed and well cared for, hogs can be 
forced to make better gains during cold than warm 
weather, thus causing a more profitable consumption of 
the food supplied. 

"During the winter months, when the field work is not 
pressing, pork making furnishes an opportunity to utilize 
the farm labor to advantage. Where winter dairying 
is carried on, laborers must be constantly maintained to 
do chores and care for the milk. There are always sev- 
eral hours between milkings when the labor needs to be 
otherwise employed. Most dairymen keep one or two 
barn hands to do the chores and care for the dairy herd, 
exclusive of the milking. As the hogs can be fed be- 
tween the hours in which the herd demands attention, we 
find that it is very profitable to follow winter pork 
making as an adjunct to the dairy, because we can fur- 
nish steady employment to the necessary farm labor. It 
requires only a few minutes for one or two hands to 
feed 50 or 75 hogs, and this in no way need interfere 
with their regular work. 

"Attention should be paid to compounding as nearly 
as possible a well balanced ration to promote rapid and 
profitable gain. For slops we have never found anything 



SWINE REARING WITH DAIRYING 447 

equal to skim milk and wheat middlings. If the milk is 
fed directly from the separator, the temperature is yet 
above normal, thus supplying the hogs with warm slops. 
This is very essential during cold weather. In case the 
milk cannot be used directly from the separator, it is 
advisable to employ some means of warming the slops. 
We have found that both growing and fattening hogs 
do much better when fed warm rather than cold slops, 
and especially during. cold weather. For grain rations 
we endeavor to use farm-produced grains as far as pos- 
sible; they are not only nearer at hand, but they com- 
pound a cheaper ration. Corn should compose the larger 
portion of the grain for the fattening stock. 

"Attention should also be given to supplying the ani- 
mals with plenty of corroborants (tonics or correctives) 
to promote health and stimulate assimilation. Hogs 
when confined to limited quarters are unable to obtain 
mineral matter, and unless supplied, will soon become 
diseased. Charcoal is one of the best corroborants avail- 
able, and should always be kept within easy reach of the 
animals. Salt is also an essential, and should be supplied 
daily in the slops." 

A Dakota student of pork-making problems declares 
that "no combination on earth will cause a farmer's 
mortgage to tremble and turn pale like the cow and the 
brood sow hitched up together. It is my opinion that 
the first cost of hogs, properly bred, properly pastured 
and properly fed, with corn costing not more than 35 
cents per bushel, does not exceed three cents per pound." 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Hog Houses and Pens 

Probably every swine grower, and especially ot pure- 
bred* reared for breeding purposes, has had dreams of 
some time possessing a model hog house ; one so capa- 
cious, so complete and so nearly meeting every require- 
ment that labor and further expense would be almost un- 
necessary, while the convenience, better health, freedom 
from losses, economy in feed and increased profits re- 
sulting from an equipment so perfect would make the 
breeder's progress toward fortune little less than a tri- 
umphal march along an asphalt highway, shaded by 
sighing elms and perfumed by flowers. Properly am- 
bitious, and with such ideals in mind, breeders have 
planned, erected and equipped what were intended to be 
such buildings ; many expensive, elaborate and ornate, 
with ''all modern conveniences," and others less so in 
varying degrees, but all intended to insure economy by 
accommodating a large number of animals under one 
roof and in restricted yards or pens adjacent. 

So far as mere theory disclosed, many of these, of 
moderate, as well as of high cost, were admirable, if not 
perfect, and their owners for the time fancied they pos- 
sessed a sort of Aladdin's lamp, by means of which 
they would find a krger measure of success than was or 
would be vouchsafed to their less discerning and less 
enterprising fellows. In practice these structures have 

448 



HOG HOUSES AND PENS 449 

been, generally speaking, a disappointment. The author 
has never seen one that was found by its owner more than 
partially satisfactory for permanent use. Two principal 
defects seemed to be that animals confined in such quar- 
ters had insufficient warmth and light from the sun and 
too little exercise for health and wholesome flesh-makiner. 
The Breeder's Gazette says, "Good hog barns are as 
rare as angel's visits. Most of the elaborate 'hog pal- 
aces' are inconvenient, unsanitary, uncomfortable, costly 
and nearly worthless. . . . Yet the writer believes 
that a good one is a possibility." 

On its face it does not seem difficult to construct, with 
reasonable expenditure, a habitation for swine so con- 
venient and comfortable that all their days from first to 
last may be spent in it in that thrift which is supposed 
to come of comfort, along with enhanced profit to their 
owners ; but, as a matter of fact, the hog does not seem 
to do well under such supposedly perfect conditions. 
For his best prosperity and prolificacy, he seems to re- 
quire more light, more liberty and closer contact with 
fresh earth than he finds in any palace, however well 
equipped or furnished. Nature seems to have decreed 
that treated as a song bird and kept in a gilded cage he 
shall not be his real or better self. 

This, however, is not said to dissuade from doing so 
those who desire and are able to build elaborate struc- 
tures, needed for housing their swine at most but a few 
months in a year, but rather to reassure breeders that 
safety and success in their business are not really de- 
pendent upon the possession of such buildings. It is 
safe to say that those who have attained either fame or 



45° 



SWINE IX AMKK1CA 



fortune by aid of these accessories are few in number, 
if, indeed, there are any such, and the men who have suc- 
ceeded hest in a financial way, or who have left the im- 
press of improvement upon any breed, have clone so with- 
out the aid of expensive buildings or fittings. A happy 
medium, somewhere between the too elaborate hog house 
on one hand and the filthy hovel on the other — quarters 
clean and comfortably bedded, where sunlight and ven- 
tilation can come, and wholesome water, pasture and 
exercise, with shade in summer, are convenient — is likely 
to give the largest measure of satisfaction and profit to 
the vast majority, whether their shibboleth be pedigree 
or pork. The hog does not need a palace or an uphol- 
stered cage, nor does he prosper in a dungeon. The 
forest and its range were his natural habitat from ear- 
liest history and living in close confinement or an en- 
vironment of filth were as foreign to his instincts as to 
those of numerous other animals erroneously rate,d as 
greatly his superiors in cleanliness. 

The farmer will do well to give the matter of building 
a large hog house careful thought before he begins it, 
not alone on account of the expense, but for various 
reasons. The difficulties in keeping the sanitary condi- 
tions of such a structure as they should be are not a 
few. When disease attacks the animals in a large house, 
the problem of ever thoroughly disinfecting the building 
becomes a serious one, and few have the knowledge or 
skill to accomplish it. Unless this is done, the owner 
can have no assurance that he will be safe from further 
loss when hogs again occupy the building. 



HOG HOUSES AND PENS 45 1 

The illustrations, plans and descriptions in this chap- 
ter are not presented with the idea that any one of them 
will be found exactly suited to all the needs of any one 
individual, for the situation of each breeder or farmer is 
in some respects different from that of every other. 
Each plan is believed or has been found by its author to 
have points of excellence, and by adaptation of sugges- 
tions afforded in some one, or all of these, the reader 
may, it is not unlikely, have his requirements met. 

Discussing hog houses, more particularly those of con- 
siderable size or expense, William Dietrich, the swine 
husbandman of the Illinois experiment station, points out 
that such buildings, if most serviceable, should be con- 
structed so that they can be used every day in the year. 
If this can be done, it is permissible to spend more money 
in the construction than would be warranted were the 
buildings to be used only a few months during the year. 
In order to be an economizer of labor, the houses should 
be planned so that the largest amount of work may be 
accomplished with the smallest expenditure of labor, 
which is a very important factor. Dryness should be 
afforded by thorough drainage ; freedom from dust by 
sprinkling with water, and the rays of direct sunlight 
should be prevented from entering the pens during the 
hot part of the summer days, by the manner of con- 
structing the buildings. To be sanitary the houses 
should admit the direct rays of the sun to the floors of 
all the pens and exclude cold drafts in winter, be dry, 
free from dust, well ventilated and exclude the hot sun 
during" the summer. 



45 2 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



In providing shelter for swine, as well as for other 
elasses of live stock, surroundings should be furnished 
that conform as nearly to nature as the improved condi- 
tion of the animals and circumstances of the owner will 
permit. Swine, when wild, inhabit the forest, where 
shade, water, protection from cold winds, and natural 
soil are abundant, and where they may select dry or damp 
localities as they please. The best surroundings, then, 
for swine, are those that will satisfy their natural desires, 
but so modified and improved as to promote the largest 
financial results. The choice location for a hog house 
is one that is well drained and well lighted, and that will 
permit access to pasture, to good shade and to water that 
is free from disease germs, where also there are oppor- 
tunities for making- wallows in clean mud. 

If the building can be placed on a sandy or gravelly 
soil better drainage will be afforded than by a clay, silt, 
or peaty soil. Light and shade are desirable for rea- 
sons that are apparent to everyone. Pasture should 
be accessible, as considerable food is obtained from the 
soil in the form of roots, worms and insects, as well 
as other substances that are not foods, but necessary 
to health. A limestone soil is preferable, because the 
water from such a soil, as well as the soil and stone 
themselves, furnish the lime that is so essential in build- 
ing up bone. A rolling pasture is preferable, because it 
affords better drainage and a form of exercise that is 
conducive to the production of a large percentage of lean 
meat. It also tends to produce strong legs with upright 
pasterns, which, from the breeder's standpoint, are 
among the first essentials of a good hog. If there is no 



HUG HOUSES AND TENS 453 

natural stream, water pumped from a well by a wind- 
mill or other power, can supply the need. "A clean 
mud wallow is enjoyed more by swine in the summer 
time than any one other condition that may be furnished 
them. It keeps them cool, destroys lice and keeps the 
skin in a good healthy condition." 

In the first illustration at the beginning of this chap- 
ter is shown the exterior of a hog house at the Illinois 
experiment station (Bulletin No. 109), constructed with 
such ideals in mind, and described by Mr. Dietrich : 

"The building as a whole is 30 feet wide, with an 
eight-foot alley running lengthwise through the middle, 
between two rows of pens. It stands lengthwise east 
and west, with the windows on the south. The important 
factor to consider in this connection is the height of the 
windows represented at E and D in connection with the 
width and manner of construction of the building. The 
window E is so placed that at noon of the shortest day 
of the year, the ray of light which passes through the 
upper part, will fall upon the floor of the south side pen 
on the opposite side from the window. This allows the 
total amount of light coming through the window at 
this season of the year and this time of the day to fall 
upon the floor within the pen. In the morning and in 
the afternoon, when the sun is not at its highest point, 
a part or all of this beam of light will pass beyond the 
pen. Consequently, during the later winter months, there 
will be a maximum amount of sunlight on the floor of 
the pen. 

"The lower part of the window D in the upper part 
of the building performs the same function for the pen 



454 SWINE IN AMERICA 

on the north side of the alley as does the window E for 
the pen on the south side. By this arrangement of win- 
dows, there is possible a maximum amount of sunlight 
on the floor of the pens in winter, which will serve to 
warm the interior of the house and especially the beds 
during the later months of winter, thus making it possible 
to have pigs farrowed very early in the season. Sunlight 
not only warms and dries the building, but destroys dis- 
ease germs, thus making the building both warm and 
sanitary. Sanitation is further augmented by the upper 
part of the window D, which, when open, acts as a ven- 
tilator. It is supplied with weights, so that it can be 
opened and closed at will by the attendant while stand- 
ing on the floor of the alley. 

"To have this arrangement of windows in the latitude 
of, say, central or northern Illinois, it is necessary to have 
the top of the window E, which throws light into the pen 
on the south side, 5 feet 6 inches from the floor. 
The upper window, which throws light into the pen on 
the north side, is longer, but a point in this window, the 
same distance above the lower end as the height of 
the window E should be 9 feet 8 inches from the 
floor. This necessitates a flat roof for the part of the 
building south of the alley, which must necessarily be 
made of some material that will shed water at a slight 
pitch. The wall on the north side of the building is 
made as high as that on the south side, but the roof on 
the north side and alley is made steeper, so as to give 
more air space and good ventilation. This part of the 
roof, then, may be made of shingles. 



HOC HOUSES AM) PENS 



455 



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GRQUND PLAN OF THE ILLINOIS EXPERIMENT STATION 
HOG HOUSE 



"In the figure above is shown the ground plan of this 
house. It is 120 feet long by 30 feet wide, and is rep- 
resented in the figure by O, S, T, U. X, Y is the alley 
which runs lengthwise through the middle of the build- 
ing and is eight feet wide. This permits of driving 
through with a wagon, which allows the feed and bed- 
ding to be hauled in where it is needed and the manure 
to be loaded on the wagon directly from the pens and 
hauled to the fields. 

"The doors at either end of the building and one across 
the alley, shutting off the pigs from the rest of the build- 
ing, are shown by R. The pens A are ten feet wide and 
11 feet deep. Each pen has a doorway, M, leading to 
the outside, which is opened by a door sliding upward. 



456 SWINK IN AMERICA 

There is also a door, N, opening to the alley on the in- 
side. This door is hung so that when it is open it will 
turn the pigs toward the front end of the house where 
they are to be weighed. It also permits of changing pigs 
from any one pen to any other pen, and easy access for 
the attendant. L represents the trough, which is placed 
on the side of the pen next to the alley and which with 
the arrangement of a swinging panel above this trough, 
as is shown in the illustration at the first of this chap- 
ter, makes feeding a very easy and convenient operation. 
The fender in the pen is shown by K in the plan. This 
consists of a two-inch tubular iron bar, placed on iron 
posts of the same dimension, and set in concrete in the 
floor. This bar is placed eight or nine inches above the 
floor and about six inches from the wall, and is to pre- 
vent the sows crushing the pigs at farrowing time. The 
sow will necessarily make her bed in this corner, as the 
other three corners are occupied, two of which have 
doors and the other the feed trough. 

"D in the plan shows the platform scale on which the 
pigs are weighed as desired. This scale is fitted with a 
frame, and the door on the side next to the alley, shown 
at Q, opens so that when the pigs come down the alley, it 
will facilitate turning them upon the scales. At the other 
end of the scale platform is a smaller door in the frame 
which opens through a door, P, of the building, thus al- 
lowing the pigs to pass from the scale room directly to 
the outside, where there may be a loading chute leading 
t< i a wagon. 

"F is the feed-mixing room in which are bins for 
feeds of various kinds represented by I. There is also a 



HOG HOUSES AND PENS 457 

door, J, leading- to the outside from this room. TI 
shows the hydrant, from which water is obtained for 
mixing- slops, watering hogs, and for attaching the hose 
to sprinkle the floors. E shows the stove that is used for 
heating water in winter for mixing slops. 

"G shows the office, and C the bins in which the feed 
is stored, as it is hauled to the hog house. The open- 
ing - to these feed bins is from the main alley of the hog- 
house, from which they are filled directly from the 
wagon as the feed is brought in. The feed is then taken 
out in smaller quantities as needed and put into the small 
bins in the mixing room from which it is weighed out to 
the pigs at feeding time. 

"B shows an alley which leads through the door, T, 
to the yard, V, on the outside. Opposite this is the yard 
Z. These two yards are not connected with pens on the 
inside of the building, but are used as boar pens and are 
supplied with separate cots and feed troughs on the out- 
side. The rest of the pens on the outside, shown as A, 
are of the same width as the pens inside, and 28 feet 
long. They are connected with the pens on the inside by 
means of the doors above mentioned, the outer end open- 
ing to the lane which leads to the pastures. The parti- 
tions between these pens on the outside are made of two 
lengths of common fencing, one 16 feet and the other 12 
feet long. The 12-foot length is next to the building and 
may be made into a gate so that it will swing. By open- 
ing all these gates and swinging them one way, and 
away from the building, an alley is made along the out- 
side of the building in case it is not desirable to use the 
alley in the building for taking out the manure. But 



J.58 SWINE IN AMERICA 

this is not so convenient as driving through the alley on 
the inside. 

"There is a four-inch drain tile laid from each pen in 
the building to the main lines on either side, which are 
placed on the outside of the pens, leading to a ravine. 
The tile opens up through the floor of the pen by means 
of a perforated iron disk, which is laid in the bell end of 
a length of sewer pipe. The floor is made to slope toward 
the drain, so that it can be flushed with water. 

"The second illustration at the beginning of this chap- 
ter shows the interior section of the house containing the 
pens. All the gates and partitions of the interior are 
made of wire netting panels. Wire is considered better 
for this purpose than lumber for several reasons, as fol- 
lows : 

"(1) There are no obstructions to light. The rays 
of light coming through the windows are not prevented 
from reaching the floor where they are most needed ; 
they keep the floor or bed in which the pigs sleep dry, 
warm and disinfected. 

"(2) By this means there is no opportunity for dis- 
ease germs to lodge in cracks and crevices or to be har- 
bored in the shadow of solid fences. In case the hog 
house should ever become infected with disease germs of 
any kind it can be disinfected much more easily and thor- 
oughly. 

"(3) Wire partitions allow the hogs always to be 
within sight of each other and of the attendant. By 
this means the sows, when they are shut up to farrow, 
will not become estranged from one another, and will not 
be so likely to tight after returning to a common pasture. 



HOG HOUSES AND PENS 459 

"Part of the floor is made of hard brick, laid flat in 
the pens and laid on edge in the alley ; the remainder is 
of cement. Lumber is not used, because, being necessa- 
rily laid on the ground to prevent cold air or cold drafts 
getting beneath the floor, it would rot out too quickly, 
making it very expensive. Brick is thought to be a lit- 
tle warmer in winter than cement, and not so slippery, 
but both are being tried. Brick, of course, is colder in win- 
ter than is lumber, but this can be obviated by using bed- 
ding or by making an overlay (portable floor ) of one-inch 
lumber for the corner of the pen where the bed is made. 

COST 

"The house is divided into unit lengths of ten feet 
each, this being the dimension of the pens parallel to the 
long dimension of the building. Where there is proper 
drainage, an earth floor is probably the best kind of a 
floor in a hog house, although it is a little harder to keep 
in repair. Therefore, by omitting the floor, tile drain 
and eaves-troughs, the building still contains all the es- 
sential features, and costs approximately $122 per unit 
length of ten feet, which contains two pens. If the car- 
penter work and painting can be done with the regular 
farm help at odd times when there is no other employ- 
ment at hand, the building can be constructed for ap- 
proximately $100 per unit length of ten feet. This in- 
cludes the labor as well as the material on the tar-and- 
gravel roof, which is the flat roof on the part of the 
building south of the alley, a two-foot brick wall under- 
neath the structure and the iron posts, gates, panels and 
fenders, which cost at the rate of $13.60 per pen. 



460 SWINE IN AMERICA 

''The cost of the house with all the accessories as out- 
lined is as follows : 

Foundation, tile drain, floor and chim- 
ney $649.25 

Lumber and windows 639.70 

Iron posts, gates, panels and fenders. . 244.80 

Hardware 53-65 

Paint and painting (two coats) 5-t-OO 

Labor (carpenter ) 290.00 

Tar-and-gravel roof 79- : 5 

Scales 100.00 

Total $2,110.55 

"The cost of the foundation, tile drain, floor and chim- 
ney seems rather high, but, due to the slope of the land in 
this particular instance, the foundation at the west end 
of the building is three feet higher than would be neces- 
sary had the building been placed on a level spot The 
foundation wall at the east end of the building is two 
feet high. 

"The cost of the brick floor with cement filler when 
the brick is laid flat, as in the pens, is 80 cents per square 
yard and when laid on edge, as in the alley, is $1.12 per 
square yard. The four-inch cement floor in the pens 
cost $1.00 and the six-inch cement floor in the alley cost 
$1.35 per square yard. This is exclusive of the cinders 
used for the foundation in both the brick and the cement 
floors. 

"The lumber and windows form a considerable item 
of expense, but this includes the lumber in the fence of 



HOG HOUSES AND PENS 



461 



the outside pens. A*good grade of lumber was used 
throughout and the shingles used were the best on the 
market. The walls of the building are made of one 
thickness of lumber, viz., the drop siding on the outside 
of the studding. It was found, however, that for the 



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LOCATION OF THE ILLINOIS STATION HOG HOUSE WITH 
REFERENCE TO PASTURES 



coldest weather of this locality, the building is not quite 
warm enough. The cost of the scales includes the work 
of installing by an expert. The total cost of $2,110.55 
does not take account of grading, hauling cinders, nor 
of the fence posts." 

LOCATION AS TO PASTURE 

As said, the house should be located so that it will 
give access to pasture. The next illustration shows an 
arrangement by which this can be accomplished. 



462 SWINE IN AMERICA 

"In this sketch, B represents the house, A the small 
pens on the outside adjacent to the pens on the inside, 
and V and Z the boar pens mentioned. L represents a 
small pasture that may be used for a boar or any other 
hog or pigs. D is the lane by which the hog house is 
approached. E and F are lanes leading from each side 
of the hog house to the pastures. H represents the pas- 
tures for the hogs that have access to the north side of 
the building, and J the pastures for those on the south 
side. This arrangement is not absolute, but may be made 
to suit the location or the fancy of the builder." 

A WISCONSIN COMBINATION HOUSE 

A plan for a house 24 feet wide, 48 feet long, any 
height desired, useful a part of the year for other pur- 
poses than hogs, if needed, is given (in the next sketch) 
by Prof. J. G. Fuller, in Wisconsin experiment station 
Bulletin No. 153. As he suggests, it can be used entirely 
for hogs and kept divided into pens, or part of it can 
be used for other purposes, such as stabling cattle or 
sheep, or for storing machinery. If desirable to feed 
cattle when the building is not required for hogs, the 
partitions can be removed and leave an ideal place to 
shelter cattle and hogs. Later on, it can be cleaned out 
for farrowing time and the partitions let down as needed. 
"In explaining this house no mention is made of feeding 
troughs, it being presumed that small troughs would be 
used for individual pens, and feeding floors provided 
for general use on the outside. It is generally desirable 
to provide room for fodder and bedding above, especially 



HOG HOUSES AND PENS 



463 



if the building is to be used for other purposes than for 
sheltering hogs. The alley through the middle is 8 
feet wide, which gives ample room to drive through with 
a wagon or a manure spreader. This leaves eight feet 
on either side of the alley, and by dividing the space up 
into pens it is possible to have eight pens 6x8 feet 
on each side of the alley, which altogether would make 
16 pens, and if more were temporarily needed, a part of 
the alley could be partitioned off. 







/ 




-48-0 


^ 


















. 


■ — 6-0" — - 






./ 





















>: \ 



/ 



GROUND PLAN OF COMBINATION HOG HOUSE MADE BY 
PROF. J. G. FULLER 



The next sketch shows a scheme for suspending parti- 
tions between the pens. These partitions are made from 
one inch by six inch 16 foot fencing and are suspended 
from the joist by hinges. The upper half marked a, 
shows the partition swung to the ceiling and out of the 
way. It will be found necessary to remove the first par- 
tition at the end toward which the partitions are to 
swing, since the space is not large enough to allow it to 



4' -4 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



swing upward to meet the ceiling. Then, in beginning to 
divide up the floor space into pens, the first partition is 
let down and a panel placed next to the alley, thus com- 
pleting a pen 6x8 feet. By continuing in this order 




m 



— 6' 



2 "x to " 




PLAN OF SWINGING PARTITIONS FOR PROFESSOR FULLERS 
HOG HOUSE 



HOG HOUSES AND PENS 



4C5 



on both sides of the alley, the building- can easily be 
divided into 16 single pens. As there is no post in 
the outside corner of the first pen, some provision must 
he made for staying it. This can he done by driving a 
stake in the ground or by having a small block in the 
floor. Such a provision would have to be made for every 
pen where there was not a post to steady the partition. 

Below is shown the interior view of the corner of a 
farrowing pen. It is provided with a fender around the 
inside of the pen which keeps the sow from lying up 
against the partition and killing young pigs, which a 
large sow will often do. The fenders should project at 
least eight inches into the pen and allow eight inches in 
the clear between the fender and the floor.'' 




CORNER OF FARROWING PEN IN PROFESSOR FULLER S HOG 

HOUSE. 

AN ILLINOIS BREEDER'S HOG HOUSE 



A prize was awarded to an Illinois breeder for a hog 

house plan, the description and outlines of which are 



466 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



shown herewith: The house is 16 feet wide, 8 feet 
high at the eaves, and may be built as long as needed. It 
has a 3 ^2 -foot alley lengthwise through the middle, 
between the pens, and is floored throughout. The 
pens are 6x5 feet. Partitions between pens are 
set in grooves, so they can be slipped out at will, 



f>e» 



~r\~^ 




f 



f 



A 
A 



EXTERIOR AND PLAN OF ILLINOIS BREEDER S HOG HOUSE. 



to make room for a larger number of hogs together 
if desired. It is much more convenient to have the parti- 
tions so they can be slipped out rather than hung on 
hinges, and stored when not needed in place. Each pen 
has a small door opening into the inside passageway for 
convenience in changing hogs from one pen to another. 
It should also have a small outside door, opening into an 
outside pen the same width as the inside pen. The north 
end of the house is for a corn crib and feed bins, ac- 
cessible from the passageway; also a hydrant connected 
with an elevated tank, supplying water for drinking, 
mixing slop, cleaning floors, and other purposes. 

The house has a small loft convenient for storing 
straw or bedding of any sort. A movable chute placed 



HOG IlorSKS AM) PKNS 



467 



at the outer end of the passageway is handy when the 
hogs are to be loaded into a wagon. 



A KANSAS BREEDER'S HOG HOUSE 

A. T. Garth of Pawnee county, Kansas, has a hog 
house he likes, the walls of which are hollow concrete 
blocks. This was described and illustrated by the Kansas 

Fanner, and is shown in the illustration on this 




GROUND PLAN OF A. T. GARTH'S CEMENT HOG HOUSE 



page. It is 28x60 feet, outside dimensions. The 
concrete blocks are 8 by 18 inches and the side walls arc 
ten blocks high above the foundation, which is also of 
concrete, built solid. Above the walls the building is of 
framework and includes a loft for storage. The pas- 
sageway is 8 feet wide. The pens are each 7V2 feet by 
9 feet 4 inches and the gates are hung so they may be 
swung across the passageway and thus form auxiliary 
pens for temporary use. Each pen has a window set 
high enough for proper ventilation and light. Each cor- 
ner pen has two windows. The feed bin is 15 feet by 



[68 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



9 feet 4 inches. In the middle pen and close to the gate 
is a hydrant for the supply of water to the entire build- 
ing. This hydrant is fed from a windmill tank which 
also supplies the house and the feed lots with water. The 
entire building has a cement floor, with a gentle slope 
from side wall to center and from north and south end, 
so that the entire house may be washed out with the aid 
of the hose, and the waste water will flow to the sink hole 
and thence away. 




LANE 18'WlOt 



(IROUND PLAN AND EXTERIOR OF AN INDIANA HOG HOUSE 
AND PENS 



The illustration above shows a house and pens for 
brood sows found satisfactory by an Indiana breeder 
luring several years of use. The house fronts south, is 120 
feet long, 8 feet deep. 8 feet high at the front and slopes 
to }}/i feet in the rear. It contains 24 pens 5 by 8 feet, and 
to the rear are 24 outside pens 5 by 10 feet. Each room 
has a rea r door for letting the sow into her outside pen, 
and each outside pen lias a gate opening into a lane 10 



HOG HOUSES AND PENS 



469 



feet wide, which is convenient for getting the sows into 
their pens. The walls of the house are double-boarded 
with building paper between. Pens inside and out have 
cement floors, and all partitions are so constructed that 
they can be taken out — those inside can be hung up over- 
head — and all the space converted into one big pen or 
several pens, for fattening hogs, or otherwise, as desired. 
There are 12 windows in the front (south) of the house, 
each letting light and sunshine into two rooms. There 




AN INEXPENSIVE STYLE OF HOG HOUSE 



are four lots of \Yi acres each connecting with these 
quarters each suitable to accommodate six sows when 
their pigs are small. 

The above illustration represents a very useful and at 
the same time inexpensive house, 8 feet wide, which can 
be extended to any length desired. If 16 feet long it 
will accommodate ten grown hogs for fattening or two 
or three not so large. Movable partitions can be placed 
at such distances apart as suits, and an outside pen or 
pens built at the rear. A cement floor is advantageous in 
such a house; the posts can stand on the cement, and no 
other foundation is needed. Joists 2x6 inches, spiked 
to the posts, will take the place of sills. Board up and 
down. 



470 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



Herewith is a feed house 14 feet square and li feet 
high to the eaves, with an ordinary comb roof of de- 
sired pitch. Its builder, W. A. Hart of Jay county, Ind., 
says it will afford room in the loft for 450 bushels of 
corn, and bin room in the center of the floor for nearly 
two tons of ground feed, and convenient trough space 
for 50 hogs. The hogs do not go inside the building, 




A CONVENIENT FEED HOUSE AND FEEDING FLOOR 



but eat slop from a partitioned V-shaped trough ex- 
tending along three sides of the house, the outer edge of 
the trough coming out even with the outer edge of the 
building". Outside of the building, and fitted to it at each 
of the sides, where there is a trough, is a feeding plat- 
form eight feet wide, extending the whole length of 
the trough. Tin's platform is inclosed with an ordinary 
board fence, with the bottom board fitted down upon 
the floor to prevent ear corn from being rooted off the 
platform. A gate in the fence shuts the hogs on or off 
the platform. The house on the three sides at which 



11 OG HOUSES AND PENS _J — I 

troughs are placed is weather-boarded up and down, 
but the siding only extends down eight feet from the 
eaves, this leaving a space of three feet between the 
bottom end of the siding and the ground, through which 
space the hogs eat out of the trough. The openings on 
the sides above the troughs are sliding windows for 
throwing ear corn to the platform. If shelled corn is 
used it can be fed in the troughs. With this arrange- 
ment as described the feeding can all be done from in- 
side the house and it is impossible for the hogs to dirty 
or waste the feed ; besides, the partitions in the troughs 
prevent the hogs from fighting and pushing one another, 
and it is much less work to clean the feeding pens when 
they are outside of the building. 

A NEBRASKAN'S HOG HOUSE 

The description herewith and two illustrations it con- 
tains pertain to a house and adjacent feeding pens 
built by W. E. Tobias of Custer County, Nebraska, as 
published in the Nebraska Farmer. The house is 14 
feet 8 inches wide by 100 feet long, with 5-foot posts 
on the low side and 12-foot on the high side. There 
is a ventilator in the roof every 8 feet. The building 
is all floored with 2-inch plank. There is a side door 2 
feet wide in each pen to open into outside pens "which 
are of the same width as the inside pens. The inside 
pens are 4x10 feet; outside pens, 4x12 feet. These out- 
side pens also have a slide door 2 feet wide which opens 
into a large yard. These inside doors slide up and down 
by means of a small rope and a pulley fastened to the 
plate above the door. The other end of the rope is 



47-' 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



fastened to a hook in the alleyway. The house is built 
of drop siding with shingle roof. The alley, or feedway, 
is 4 feet 8 inches wide. There is also a door the full 
width of each pen opening into this alleyway; also a 
trough full width of the pens built in the floor 8 inches 
wide, just inside these 4-foot doors. 

Water is piped from a tank at the house into barrels 
shown in the diagram. The barrels each have a waterer 
attached and hogs have access to them at all times ex- 




END VIEW OF THE TOBIAS HOUSE AND PENS 



cept when sows are in the pens during the farrowing 
period. Then the troughs are used. The building faces 
south with the high side to the north. There is a half 
window in the south side of each of the 25 pens, which 
gives abundant light. There are also six of these small 
windows in the north side of the house. 

The plan shows the pitch and shape of the roofs, with 
ventilators, and the location of the grain bin. This bin 
lias doors at the top 2 feet 6 inches wide, hinged at the 
top or bottom as preferred. Each of these is 10 feet 
long, thus making it more convenient to fill the bin than 
if the doors were smaller. 



HOG IlOrSKS AND PENS 



473 



The floor of the house is laid on cement piers, 4 
inches high by 6 inches wide, extending crosswise of 
the building where they connect with a cement feed- 
ing floor on the north side which is 10x100 feet, 4 inches 
thick; and on the south side by another feeding floor 12 
xioo feet. This south floor, by removing partitions, can 
be used also as a feeding floor in winter or when not used 
for farrowing sows. The outer edge of the cement 
work extends into the ground 2 feet all around. This 
is to keep the hogs from rooting under the floor and to 
keep rats from working under it. 



1 


Getxnt Fcedim! f/ocr /O' */O0' « V"A»/iA 


1 


Hat,,*, v.,„i W*«,Qti~r.l - - 


1 

i 






















l 1 1 1 

tl Pens V i/ff- 
P/ank F/agtj 






















t 
1 














1 

I 


,4f 


Pen 


1 1 I 1 

j Cement Floor 


ra& 


b 


Pan 


StlA 


is 














W* 











































GENERAL PLAN OF THE TOBIAS HOUSE AND PENS 



CONCRETE FLOORS 

Upon the question of which is the best floor for a 
hog house, or whether cement or concrete makes a de- 
sirable floor, especially for a farrowing pen, men differ, 
as they do upon most other questions. As an example, 
the experience and observations of Prof. Robert S. Shaw 
of the Michigan experiment station prompted him tc de- 
clare against the concrete floor thus : 

"At the present time there is no floor in use in pig- 
geries more desirable or inexpensive, considering dura- 
bility, than one properly constructed of concrete, nor can 



474 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



as good sanitary conditions be maintained by the use of 
any other. And yet, notwithstanding these good quali- 
ties, cement floors are strongly objected to, and justly 
so, too, on the ground that pigs become crippled if re- 
quired to nest in beds on them during the winter season. 
Even though an abundance of bedding is used on cement 
floors, bad results seem to follow just the same. There 
are few worse places for a brood sow to farrow than on 
a cement floor. She gathers the small amount of bed- 
ding allowed her into a small pile, beds on it and the 
newly born pigs wriggle off on the bare floor, which, 
being slippery, prevents them from getting on their 
feet, the cold floor soon exhausts them, and they perish. 
It was with the object of overcoming these objections to 
the cement floors that overlays were used." 

Of much the same mind is an Indiana breeder who 
writes: "I do not like a cement floor, for it is always 
damp. Then, too, it is too cold and hard and the pigs 
will always have the rheumatism, and a cold and cough. 
Give me a warm house on runners, one for each sow 
when it is time for her to farrow. Before that time 
two or three can occupy one house and be warmer." 

Examples of opposite estimates of the same propo- 
sition are afforded in letters from three Iowa farmers 
and breeders. One writes, saying: 

"Two years ago I put down a floor in the center of 
my barn and used it for farrowing pens. The sows 
raised an average of a fraction over seven pigs each and 
I saw no siVn of rheumatism. Last fall I floored all 
my pens with cement, and have over 180 young pigs and 
no rheumatism. My hogs have slept on cement every 



HOG HOUSES AND PENS 475 

night since they were farrowed, and I think the cement 
floor has far more good qualities than bad. There is, 
however, considerable difference in the method of build- 
ing floors which must be taken into consideration. First, 
there should be at least two or three inches of coarse 
gravel as a foundation, so it will not draw dampness, and 
especially where it will freeze under the floor. Second, 
the floor must have a top coat made rich and put on very 
thin. The thickness of cement makes no difference as 
to moisture. Third, the concrete must be thoroughly 
mixed dry, then sprinkled with water (not drowned with 
water) and shoveled immediately where wanted and 
well rammed down until water will rise to the top. The 
top coat must be put on before the bottom becomes dry. 
The cost is less than half that of wood, the work of 
cleaning is only about a third as much, and one has a 
much better chance to disinfect and to kill lice and ticks 
or germs. These will not breed in cement and many 
will in wood ; then again, in case of disease it is much 
easier cleaned, as it can be all washed or scrubbed with a 
disinfectant, which would be a job with the majority of 
wooden floors. I say learn to work with cement and 
lay your own floors." 

Another says : "From my experience there is no bet- 
ter floor than cement. It can be kept dry where a board 
floor would be damp much of the time. If I were to 
build a hundred hog houses I would put cement floors in 
every one. To the objection that the little pigs get cold 
on cement floors, I will say if the cement is put in right 
it is warmer than any other floor, for the cold air cannot 



tf6 SWINE IN AMERICA 

get under it. There is nothing in the theory that ce- 
ment floors cause rheumatism. There is no better floor 
than cement; it is easy to keep clean and to disinfect." 

Still another writes by the same mail : "I have used a 
cement floor in my hog house for a number of years and 
I have never had a hog with rheumatism. My entire 
hog house is made of cement except the doors and win- 
dows and roof. It is 20x30 feet, with two cement plat- 
forms to feed on. The main thing is to build them high 
enough so the water will run away in all directions, and 
be sure to have a solid foundation, well set in the ground 
so rats cannot dig under. Use nothing but the best ce- 
ment and sand. I have tried board floors, but they 
soon rot and are rat harbors. If I had to build again it 
would be with cement. There is no danger of the little 
pigs dying or ailing if they are properly bedded." 

The concrete floor, in the farrowing pen or out of it, 
may fall short of perfection, and have defects which 
prevent its being entirely satisfactory, particularly in 
cold weather, for sows and young pigs — or, in fact, any 
other swine — without sufficient bedding material to pre- 
vent the necessity of their lying in immediate contact 
with the floor. It is, however, the author's opinion that 
on the whole the merits of both the concrete and brick 
floors, properly constructed and used, far overbalance 
their defects, and that the interests of swine growers 
would be tremendously promoted by having in use ten 
thousand times as much such flooring as is now in exist- 
ence. The satisfaction of having dry, draftless, ratless 
sleeping floors, or clean, wasteless feeding yards or plat- 
forms, such as can be inexpensively made from concrete 



HOG HOUSES AND PENS 4/7 

or brick, is so great that having once possessed them few 
breeders will be willing to forego their use afterward. 
The sleeping floor should be readily accessible to sun- 
shine in the fall, winter and spring months, and the feed- 
ing floor sufficiently elevated that mud or manure will not 
be collected on it from the surroundings, and if it slopes 
slightly in one or more directions it can be far more 
readily cleaned; in fact, the rains alone will do much 
toward its cleansing. As lumber becomes more expen- 
sive and difficult to obtain the subject of floors and fenc- 
ing made of other materials must inevitably grow in 
importance. 

AN OVERLAY 

A second movable floor or overlay 6x8 feet, is shown 
herewith, in one corner of a pen, described by Professor 
Shaw, and sufficient as a sleeping place for eight or ten 
150-pound shotes. This is hinged to the wall, so that 
when the pen is to be cleaned the overlay is tipped up, 
bedding and all, and any filth which may have accumu- 
lated underneath is cleaned out. After the floor is 
cleaned the overlay is let down, the bedding thrown off 
on the floor for absorbent, and replaced by fresh bedding 
at least once a week. When the overlay is placed in the 
corner of the pen, that portion of the floor should be 
raised somewhat. 

The overlay is raised off the floor by inch cleats which 
hold the bottom boards or floor together, and a 2x4 or 
2x6 is fastened to the outer edges to hold the bedding in 
place. 



4/8 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



Because the bed of the pig on a cement floor becomes 
damp and befouled so easily it is excellent to use over- 
lays, which can be regularly and thoroughly cleaned, 
especially during the winter season. Whatever its faults 
may or may not be, the concrete floor permits of the 
maintenance of better sanitary conditions than any other 
yet used. 




PLAN AND LOCATION OF A MOVABLE SECOND FLOOR. 

"In the use of overlays," says Professor Shaw, "three 
facts have been strikingly noticeable, viz. : First, swine 
invariably use the overlays, by preference, sleeping on 
the bare boards if there should be no straw on them; sec- 
ond, of the three or four hundred hogs that have been 
housed in our piggery, there are few instances where the 
bedding on the overlays has been fouled by excreta, and 
the tendency to this is much less if the overlays are in 
the pen corners, where the pigs are not trampling over 
them ; third, we have not had a crippled hog in our pig- 
gery since these devices have been in use. We dislike 






HOG HOUSES AND PENS 47<) 

the plan of boarding or planking- over the entire cement 
floor surface of a pen during- the winter, even for far- 
rowing, as dung- and urine work in between and under 
the boards or planks, producing- very unsanitary condi- 
tions." 

INDIVIDUAL HOG HOUSES 

In later years so called individual houses "wigwams," 
or ''cots," of different forms, but all to serve the same 
purpose, portable, and adapted to accommodate a sow 
with pigs, or two or three hogs, are finding much popular 
favor, and those who know them best appear to like them 
most. The experiment station of Wisconsin is one that 
has issued a bulletin (No. 153) chiefly devoted to their 
construction. In enumerating some of their advan- 
tages Professor Fuller, the author of the bulletin, says : 
''The portable hog house is easily and economically con- 
structed ; it can be easily moved and located wherever 
desired ; it is useful both to the general farmer and to 
the breeder of pure-bred stock ; and of all systems for 
housing swine, it is the most natural and sanitary. Only 
the simplest workmanship is necessary to build the port- 
able house, and much odd lumber can be worked into 
it. It is peculiarly advantageous since it can be readily 
moved. The renter who finds it impossible to provide 
expensive quarters for his hogs can well afford to con- 
struct portable houses, which can be retained as personal 
property. Many farmers construct hog houses without 
considering the importance of sanitation, ventilation and 
drainage. A hog- house of any kind should be located on 



4S0 SWINE IN AMERICA 

a high, dry site, and, if possible, on soil containing suffi- 
cient sand to drain well. A house located on an elevation 
may be somewhat colder in winter, but it is much cooler 
and more comfortable in summer. Hogs suffer greatly 
from the extreme heat of summer, and it is equally as 
important to keep them cool in summer as it is to keep 
them warm in winter. 

"The portable houses are useful on any sized farm, 
as the number can be regulated to the size of the herd. 
With separate paddocks to accommodate swine of dif- 
ferent ages and sexes, the portable house is practically a 
necessity. Swine will never pile up in a damp, poorly- 
ventilated quarter and come out steaming in the cold 
morning air unless compelled to do so. Where a large 
number of animals are continually housed in one hog 
house and fed in or around the house, the surroundings 
are sure to become more or less filthy and unsanitary. 
If feeding is done on the inside it keeps a portion of the 
floor wet, and gives the entire building an offensive, dis- 
agreeable appearance. On the other hand, by using the 
portable house, moving it occasionally to a fresh piece 
of ground, and feeding the hogs at a different place, one 
avoids these unsanitary conditions. These portable 
houses can be built to accommodate from four to six 
mature animals or ten to 20 shotes. This method of 
housing- keeps them much cleaner and more thrifty than 
when allowed to congregate in larger numbers, and in- 
dividuals of a herd showing evidences of a contagious 
disease can be readily isolated." 

The illustrations at the first of this chapter include 
two of the individual hog houses at the Illinois experi- 



liOG HOUSES AND PENS 48] 

mcnt station. One of these is set up and in position, and 
another illustration represents the same building- taken 
apart. Mr. Dietrich, in charge, says: "Seine of these 
individual houses or cots are built with four upright 
walls and a shed roof, each of which ( the walls and roof ) 
being separate, can easily be taken down and replaced, 
making moving an easy matter. Others are built with 
two sides sloping in toward the top so as to form the 
roof. These are on skids, and when necessary, can be 
moved as a whole by a horse. In fact, they are built in 
several different styles ; some have a window in the front 
and above the door, while all may have a small door in 
the rear end near the apex for ventilation. They are also 
built in different sizes. Indeed, there are about as many 
forms as there are individuals using them. The form in 
which these houses are built is of little significance so 
long as the general principles pertaining to the health of 
the animals and the convenience of the breeder are ob- 
served. 

"The arguments in favor of this type of house are that 
each sow at farrowing time may be kept alone and away 
from all disturbance ; that each litter of pigs may be kept 
and fed by itself, consequently there will not be too large 
a number of pigs in a common lot ; that these houses may 
be placed at the farther end of the feed lot, thus com- 
pelling the sow and pigs to take exercise, especially in 
winter, when they come to the feed trough at the front 
end of the lot; that the danger of spreading disease 
among the herd is at a minimum ; and in case the place 
occupied by the cot becomes unsanitary, it may be moved 
to a clean location." 



482 SWINE IN AMERICA 

The three figures which follow show forms of cots in 
use at the Michigan agricultural college, and described 
by Prof. Robert S. Shaw, in station bulletin No. 223. 
The first two are forms in use at the institution for 
some years. The small A-shaped cot is desirable in that 
it is warm in winter, but objectionable in that it provides 
little protection against the extreme heat of summer. It 
is considered a good form of cot for the brood sow to 
farrow in in moderate weather, as she cannot lie down 
close enough to the sloping roof to crush her pigs 
against a wall. A common mistake is made in fastening 
this form of cot permanently to the skids, or runners, 
on which it is built. These are the first to decay and 
along with them the lower ends of the boards, thus 
making repairs impossible, even though the balance of 
the structure remains sound. 

The second form of hog cot, 6x8 feet, with perpen- 
dicular sides and a flat, though slightly sloping roof, is 
made in live separate pieces, the four sides and top so 
constructed as to bolt together at the four corners. This 
form of cot is warm in winter but too warm in summer, 
with its flat top exposed to the sun's rays, and though 
it may be planned so that the top can be raised in sum- 
mer, there is trouble from the wind occasionally unroof- 
ing it. It is also objectionable in that the sections are 
too heavy for one man to move and as a result it is not 
moved as frequently as hog cots should be. Cots should 
be constructed so that they can be moved frequently by a 
team and one man without taking the cot to pieces. 

The third represents a form of cot more recently de- 
signed. It is six by eight feet at the foundation, with 



HOG HOUSES AM) PENS 



|83 



the sides rising- perpendicularly three feet before re- 
ceiving the half-pitch roof boards. The center boards 




MICHIGAN EXPERIMENT STATION INDIVIDUAL HOG HOUSE 
WITH SLOPING SIDES 




MICHIGAN EXPERIMENT STATION INDIVIDUAL HOG HOUSE 
WITH PERPENDICULAR SIDES 

on the sides are hinged so that they can be swung open in 
hot weather; the opening thus made is covered with 
strong woven wire, clamped above and below between 



4*4 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



inch boards; the inner clamp boards project an inch 
beyond the outer ones, thus breaking the joints and pre- 
venting any draught when the openings are closed. The 
two ridge boards are also hinged so that they can be 
opened during hot weather. These openings permit a free 
circulation of air, which not only lowers the tempera- 
ture, but greatly relieves the oppression of the pigs seek- 




A MORE ELABORATE MICHIGAN EXPERIMENT STATION 
INDIVIDUAL HOG HOUSE 



ing shelter. The hinged ridge boards close down tight- 
ly, giving warm quarters during the coldest weather. The 
cots proper are supported on skids, to which they are not 
attached, being held in place by the blocking of the ties 
across both ends. A two-inch bottom is used or not, as 
desired; this flooring is cut in lengths to fit crosswise 
and rest on the skids, which are wider than the sills. This 
cot is not desirable for the farrowing sow without the 
addition of a railing around the perpendicular walls a 
few inches from the floor to prevent overlaying her pigs. 



11 UG HOUSES AND PENS 



4«5 



"Probably the chief objection to this structure is the ex- 
pense of material and cost of construction. It contains 
160 feet of stock lumber, 60 feet matched, 20 feet four- 
by-six, 12 feet four-by-four, and 44 feet two-by-four, 
and required two days' labor in construction." 

An Ohio breeder, writing- of his experience in the con- 
struction and use of the individual hog house or cot, 




AN INDIVIDUAL HOG HOUSE PROTECTED IN COLD 
WEATHER 

says: "A small house, easily handled, large enough for 
one sow when she farrows, or for several shotes or 
feeders, according to size, is much better than a large 
permanent house. When a sow farrows in zero weather, 
we cover the house with straw or fodder to make it abso- 
lutely safe against the frost and cold that destroy young- 
pigs so quickly. The best door, when one is needed, is 
a gunny sack, or something of that kind, fastened above 
the doorway, and allowed to hang over it. It is only in 



486 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



extreme cold weather that any door is needed. We al- 
ways have the house set with the doorway in the direc- 
tion from which comes the least wind. 

"When the surface is rolling, floors to these houses 
will seldom be needed. The ground is the best floor, 
under most conditions ; but when the weather is very 
wet and the ground muddy, a plank floor comes in ex- 
cellent play. The floor should be made separate from 
the house, and the house placed over it, the floor fitting 
neatly inside the sills When a plank floor is used, care 




A GOOD HOUSE FOR A SOW AND YOUNG PIGS 



should be taken to prevent the wind driving under it. 
One man can turn one of these houses over on to a sled 
and move it when desired, which should be done when 
the ground floor is used and becomes filthy. If disease 
strikes the herd, the houses can be turned upside down 
that the sun and weather may disinfect them. 

"A few years ago we had sows farrow the last of Jan- 
uary, when the mercury was below zero. We covered 
their houses with fodder, nailed a sack above the door- 
wav, and hung a thermometer inside of one to observe 
what effect the heat of the sow's body would have on the 
temperature. We found, when the mercury registered 
eight degrees below zero outside the house, that the heat 



nou houses and tens 



4*7 



from the body of a sow weighing 400 pounds would raise 
it to 26 degrees above, inside. We found, further, that, 
by going into the house with a common lantern, we 
could raise the temperature ten degrees." 

On page 486 is shown a house especially adapted to ac- 
commodate a farrowing sow and her young pigs. In 



nnnnnn 



Qemeni Floor 
Troths 



YARD PLAN FOR PORTABLE HOG HOUSES IN CONNECTION 
WITH PASTURE OR FEED LOTS 



pleasant weather the doors can be left open. If stormy 
or cold, the larger door can be closed, and with the 
smaller one open, the animals may still be comfortable. 
The next sketch, from Wisconsin bulletin No. 153, 
illustrates a plan in which the small hog houses can be 
made of much practical value to the ordinary farmer in 
providing shelter for the herd. By locating these houses 
adjacent to the main farm barn yards, says Professor 
Fuller, the animals have freedom for exercise and ex- 
clusive shelter from the other farm stock. Six to eight 



488 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



of the 8x8 A-shaped houses will easily accommodate a 
carload of shotes. A feeding floor can be conveniently 
arranged in some protected quarter, so that the work in 
caring for the herd is reduced to a minimum. It will be 
found that by locating the houses in a high and dry 
place, they will keep in good condition if thoroughly 
bedded once a week. But in damp and muddy seasons 
it is better to bed them oftener. The beginner in plan- 




A TWO-WAY DOOR FOR HOG HOUSES 

ning accommodations for swine should thoroughly com- 
pare the merits and the economy of this system with 
the conditions and expense connected with maintaining a 
large hog house. 

A two-way door for hog houses or pens is often a 
great convenience. It may be made of inch lumber, and 
2>2 or three feet square. The hinges are at the top and 
are so constructed that the door may swing either out 
or in. Bolted to the lower part of the door should be 






HOG HOUSES AND PENS 



489 



a piece of 2x4 scantling to hold it in place when the 
wind is blowing. On one side of the door may be 
placed, upright, a piece of 2x4 in which are bored several 
holes so the door can be fastened open as desired, or it 
can be adjusted so it will go only so far, excluding the 
passage of older hogs and at the same time admit small 
pigs and shotes. On the other side may be placed a cleat 
through which a pin may be inserted to fasten the door 
shut. 

Herewith is shown a means of keeping hogs in one 
lot or pasture, while cattle with them are allowed to use 
the same pasture and one or more adjacent. 




DEVICE FOR KEEPING HOGS SEPARATED FROM CATTLE 



CHAPTER XIX 

Sanitation in the Hog Lot 

A practical understanding of the best general methods 
in sanitation and disinfection is as important as any other 
feature of profitable swine husbandry. The hog raiser 
who neglects to care for the health and cleanliness of 
his animals is likely to see his own profits vanish and to 
affect those of his more careful neighbor as well. He 
owes it to his community, as well as to himself, to be 
alert and energetic in preventing and eradicating dis- 
eases of vermin. 

A great danger to hogs exists in specific germ dis- 
eases distributed by bacteria and which cannot be directly 
caused by either breeding or feeding. Such diseases 
are encouraged by filthy and carelessly kept houses and 
feed lots, and constant cleanliness is the most effective 
means of preventing their dissemination. Where the 
bacteria have been established, an absolutely thorough 
disinfection will usually be successful in eradicating 
them. A good rule, in any case of doubt, is to disinfect 
as a preventive measure, and some large feeders take it 
for granted that every new animal purchased may be 
an infected one and treat it accordingly. 

QUARANTINING 

A farm from or to which much traveling of swine is 
common should have a regular system of quarantine. 

490 



SANITATION IN THE HOG LOT 49I 

Show hogs ought to be kept in isolated quarters for at 
least 20 clays after returning to the farm. The same prac- 
tice should apply when newly purchased hogs are brought 
in, and especially those coming from or through stock 
yards or from considerable distances. Isolation for 
this length of time will determine whether disease exists 
in any of the animals and prevent its spread to others. 

In case of an outbreak of "cholera" or swine plague, 
too rigid a quarantine cannot be established against all 
neighboring farms. This should apply to dogs and poul- 
try, as well as neighbors or casual visitors. The con- 
tagion is easily carried, even from a road, and may be 
brought, as has been well established, by dogs going 
from one farm to another, or by crows, and on the 
shoes of visitors or the wheels of vehicles that have been 
in the infected district. The bacteria are very easily 
carried and too much caution cannot be observed when 
cholera is known to be in or near the neighborhood. The 
farmer himself should not visit the farms of others 
where disease is known to be prevalent. 

METHODS OF DISINFECTION 

When one of the serious contagious diseases appears, 
the methods to eradicate it should not be half-hearted. 
The best methods are condensed into the following para- 
graph from Farmers' Bulletin No. 205, issued by the 
United States Department of Agriculture : 

"The quarters in which the sickness first appeared 
should be thoroughly cleaned, all bedding and rubbish 
burned, and loose boards and old partitions torn out 



492 



SWINE TNT AMERICA 



and burned. If the pen is old, knock it to pieces and 
burn it. Disinfect pens and sleeping places, using air- 
slaked lime on the floors and the carbolic acid solution 
on the walls and ceilings. Whitewash everything. If 
a hog dies, burn the carcass or bury it deeply out of 
the reach of crows, buzzards, or dogs. If possible, do 
not move the carcass from the place where it falls; but 
if this cannot be done, the ground over which it is 
dragged should be disinfected. Hog cholera bacilli can 
live in the ground for at least three months. Care must 
be taken to maintain an absolute quarantine between the 
sick and well hogs. The same attendant should not 
cafe for both lots unless he disinfects himself thoroughly 
after each visit to the infected hogs. Dogs should be 
confined until the disease is stamped out." 

Approved methods, particularly as relating to hog- 
cholera, are treated further under Chapter XXIII, in the 
section relating to cholera. 

DIPPING AND SPRAYING 

It is sometimes found more convenient to spray hogs 
than to install a dipping vat for them, but spraying is 
likely to leave untouched some portions of the animal, 
particularly behind the ears and in wrinkles, and may not 
always be effective. Immersion in a vat, however, is 
thorough and preferable, particularly for lice or fleas. 
Most of the prepared dips have some advantageous 
qualities when swallowed, and dipping is said on that 
account to be additionally effective for intestinal worms. 
Dr. A. T. Peters of the Nebraska experiment station 



SANITATION IN THE HOG LOT 493 

makes the following strong statements (Bulletin No. 74) 
relative to dipping swine for lice: ''It has been known 
to the intelligent hog breeder that the presence of in- 
sects on the hog is a very serious matter. It is a fact 
that very few hogs are free from lice, and that breeders 
have been accustomed to use various remedies for the 
destruction of the pest. The favorite seats of lice on 
the hog are back of the ears, along the neck and under 
the breast. These vermin are bloodsuckers, and they 
produce in a short time a very weak, debilitated condition 
of the animal, making him far more susceptible to other 
diseases that the animal is heir to. The louse has not 
been credited with occasioning serious loss, but of late 
years more attention has been given to this. We have 
found that the hog louse becomes a more serious enemy 
when hogs are out of condition. If the accompanying 
conditions are bad, especially if the pens are excessively 
dusty, and through the inhalation of an excessive amount 
of dust there should be a slight pneumonia of the lungs, 
the animal badly affected with lice will be all the more 
apt to die. 

"We have found also that where animals affected with 
cholera were free from lice, there was a much smaller 
percentage of loss. This has been brought to our atten- 
tion after examining numerous herds during the last 
five years. The first rule that we now insist upon when 
we visit an outbreak of cholera is to examine for lice, 
and, if present, to thoroughly destroy these vermin. The 
breeding pens and hog houses are also thoroughly dis- 
infected. All the bedding that is found in pens and hog 
houses at time of disinfection is burned. The method 



494 SWINE IN AMERICA 

that we have for disinfecting the pens and houses is as 
follows : For the stables we prefer to use hot water 
and any of the coal tar preparations, such as zenoleum. 
chloro-naphtholeum, and similar preparations. This is 
done by making a three per cent solution of either of 
these preparations and using it liberally with broom and 
brush and also with a spray pump. Spray pumps used 
for spraying trees answer the purpose admirably. 

"After the stables and pens are thoroughly disin- 
fected, the animals should be disinfected also. This can 
be done by dipping them, which is a far easier method 
than any other. Of course it necessitates a dipping tank. 
These dipping tanks can be bought on the market very 
reasonably. If one is not in favor of using the dipping- 
tank, or does not feel warranted in spending the amount 
that it would cost to purchase one, a spray pump will 
do the work ; but in spraying hogs one should have them 
on a wooden floor, and must have quite a large and 
forcible pump, so that they can be thoroughly saturated 
with the liquid. If sprayed, they should also be rubbed 
with a broom immediately, so that the fluid will soak well 
into the skin. The solution that we recommend is from 
three to four per cent for grown hogs and about three 
per cent for small pigs. In our experience we have not 
found any harm resulting from dipping very young 
pigs. 

"Spraying and dipping for lice can be highly recom- 
mended, as it is the only safe, rational thing to do if hogs 
are infested; and, as stated above, there is not a breeder 
who has not been troubled with these vermin. The 
remedy is to dip, and dip often. It aids the very best 



SANITATION IN THE HOG LOT 495 

balanced ration that can be given to a hog, by enabling 
him to thrive and assimilate the food administered. 
Breeders who have begun to dip their hogs find it very 
economical and a very efficient method of ridding the 
animals of vermin. The coal tar preparations— chloro- 
naphtholeum, zenoleum, Lincoln dip, and Lee's carbolic 
dip — leave the skin in a very soft, pliable condition, and 
I believe that it is a very economical and sensible way 
out of this difficulty. 

"I do not wish to convey the idea that it is absolutely 
necessary to procure a dipping- tank. I have known in- 
stances where our American farmer, with his genius for 
making the most of his surroundings, has soon impro- 
vised a proper tank with very little cost. It is the pur- 
pose to urge every grower of swine to dip his hogs at 
least every three to four weeks to have the very best 
success, and also to use liberally any of these dips in his 
hog pens; by doing- this he will attain the best results 
and in a great measure prevent infectious diseases from 
gaining a foothold on his premises." 

Rommel (Farmers' Bulletin No. 205) says: "One of 
the most effective and cheapest preparations to use as a 
dip is a two per cent solution of creolin. The common to- 
bacco dips used for sheep scab are also efficacious. If 
the hogs are washed, apply the solution with a broom; 
if they are sprayed, use an ordinary spray pump; for 
dipping, use a dipping tank. When being washed or 
sprayed, the hogs should stand on a tight board floor. 
Newly purchased hogs should be carefully examined 
for vermin, and they should not be turned with the 
herd until they are known to be free from these pests." 



496 SWINE IN AMERICA 

A SELF-DIPPING DEVICE 

Prof. J. H. Shepard of the South Dakota experiment 
station, and a practical breeder of swine on his own ac- 
count, has devised a means whereby his hogs shall dip 
themselves. He has found that by having in the hog 
lots or pasture a bath tank filled or partly filled with 
water, in which has been stirred a quart or two of good 
dip, the hogs will do enough bathing in this mixture to 
keep them free from lice and their skins in the very pink 
of condition. It seems that the addition of the "dip" 
does not make the water objectionable to the hog for 
bathing purposes, and in warm weather time that might 
otherwise be given to filthy wallows will be spent in 
this valuable disinfecting mixture. 

He writes the author, saying: "The tanks are eight 
feet square and ten inches deep, built of two-inch planks, 
and they are all connected with a large water tank by 
pipes fitted with valves. I use about one quart of dip to 
a tank three-fourths full of water. This is renewed 
about once in two weeks, depending on the weather. The 
water is supplied as necessary. All that is needed is to 
open a valve and let it run in. In muddy times it is 
best to clean out the tank and take a fresh start. This 
can be done in five minutes with a scoop shovel. I have 
used Kreso dip with excellent results, and I can say the 
same of zenoleum. I have noticed when the tanks are 
first filled with fresh water, and after the dip has been 
added, that the pigs will keep taking small drinks of the 
mixture as if they liked it. I have an idea, too, that this 
helps to keep worms out of my herd. Of course I also 
have slaked lime and coal ashes where the hogs can help 



SANITATION IN THE HOG LOT 4<J7 

themselves. The results obtained from the tanks are so 
good that I could not think of getting along without 
them. My herd is now ten years old, and a record of 
no lice or skin disease and no cholera in all this time 
ought to satisfy any reasonable man. It is no uncom- 
mon thing to see one of these bathtubs crowded full of 
pigs bathing and disinfecting and cooling themselves." 
The Farmer's Voice describes the most primitive and 
simple dipping or self-cleansing device yet suggested, as 
follows : "Dig a hole in the hog lot or pasture, and fill 
it several inches deep with water on a hot day. Pour 
into this half a gallon of coal oil or some other good 
lice-killing liquid such as zenoleum, call the pigs to the 
water hole and they will soon do the rest. This coal-oil- 
water-mud bath should be repeated at intervals of about 
a week, two or three times, when the lice will all dis- 
appear. It is so easy and inexpensive that no pig grower 
should be troubled with lice in hot weather when pigs 
will so readily wallow in any water or a mud hole in 
the ground." 

THE HOG LOUSE 

The illustrations on page 498 show, much magnified, a 
half-grown hog louse, and the eggs from which the lice 
are hatched. The following information and description 
are by Prof. C. P. Gillette, entomologist at the Iowa 
experiment station : "In the center is shown a portion of 
the leg of a mature louse. It differs from that of the 
half-grown specimen, by showing plainly a second joint 
in the claw. A full-grown louse is three-sixteenths of 



49 8 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



an inch long. The color is a dirty, bluish gray. The 
sharp claws seen in the illustration are not used to hurt 
the pig, but are for the purpose of clasping the hairs 
tightly, from which it is not easy to remove the lice. The 
food is taken through a sharp rostrum or beak, which is 
thrust into the skin of the host. The beak is not shown 
in the illustration here, as it is always retracted when 
not in use. 




HOG LOUSE HALF GROWN, AND EGGS 

"The sketch represents three eggs. From one to a 
half-dozen eggs may be found in this way fastened to a 
single hair. They are three sixty-fourths of an inch in 
length, and the lower or inner end is always attached by 
means of a tough, gluey substance that usually incloses 
the hair. 1 ne upper or outer end of the egg is the one 
from which the louse makes its exit. This end has a 
somewhat darker colored cap, which is pushed off by the 
young louse before coming forth. The egg is white in 
color, and is covered with small, regularly arranged pits 



SANITATION IN THE HOG LOT 499 

or punctures, giving" the surface a honeycomb appear- 
ance. These lice are often spoken of as occurring only 
upon poor animals, but those that I have seen have been 
equally numerous upon the fattest and best pigs. It 
would be more correct to say that pigs upon which lice 
have long been abundant are always poor, which would 
make the presence of the lice the cause of the poor con- 
dition of the animal, and not the poor condition of the 
animal the cause of the lice. 

"Uncleanliness is often spoken of as the cause of ver- 
min upon man and beast. Filthiness may furnish the 
conditions under which these insects increase more 
rapidly, but nothing in the world can produce a louse but 
the egg of a louse, hence, the only possible cause of lice 
is lice. It is not because of uncleanliness that a child 
gets lousy, but it is because of uncleanliness and unpar- 
donable shiftlessness that he is permitted to remain lousy 
and to scatter the infection among his associates, and 
exactly the same rule applies in the case of domestic ani- 
mals. So, if one has stock of any sort free from ver- 
min, it is of prime importance that it be not allowed to 
associate with animals that are not also known to be 
free from such infection. Before a strange animal is 
allowed to enter a herd it should always receive careful 
inspection, and, if found to have lice, it should be kept 
by itself and treated until entirely freed from them. 

"If it is not thought best to use kerosene emulsion, a 
strong tobacco decoction, a strong soap suds, or an oiling 
with kerosene and lard mixed, in the proportion of one 
part of kerosene to three or four parts of lard, would 



5<JJ SWINE IN AMERICA 

probably prove effectual and would not be harmful to 
the animal." 

DISINFECTING INFECTED PREMISES 

Dr. W. B. Niles says : "It is a well-known fact that 
yards or other inclosures in which hogs have died of 
cholera, remain, for a time at least, infective, and will 
communicate the disease to susceptible swine placed 
therein. Consequently if new animals are brought on 
the farm, new yards must be provided for them, or the 
old yards, sheds, etc., must be made safe by a thorough 
disinfection. Owing to the difficulty attending thorough 
disinfection, and the impossibility of determining when 
the premises are rid of all cholera germs, it is always 
advisable to provide new quarters, if possible, when re- 
stocking the farm. In doing this, however, the mis- 
take must not be made of using the same troughs, 
buckets, etc., for the new animals. 

"It often occurs, however, that new yards cannot be 
provided, and the old premises must be used if new 
animals are introduced. The length of time necessary 
for the natural disinfection of the place — that is, for 
the destruction of the virus by means of sun, air, etc. — 
is not definitely known, and no doubt varies, depending 
upon the season and condition of the yards. The writer 
has noted several instances where the virus seemed to 
have retained its infective nature over winter, and, on 
the other hand, has seen yards refilled the same summer 
without a recurrence of the disease. 

"Having satisfactorily disposed of the dead animals, 
it is necessary to destroy all troughs used by the dis- 



SANITATION IN THE HOG LOT 5OI 

cased swine. All recovered swine, and especially those 
that have been very sick, should be kept apart from the 
new hogs brought on the place. Before attempting dis- 
infection, all manure and other litter must be removed, 
and scattered on some part of the farm not accessible to 
the hogs. 

"Experiments have shown that many of the disinfec- 
tants in common use, have the power to destroy the 
cholera virus, and that, consequently, if the nature of 
the place to be freed from infection is such that the 
cleansing agent can come in contact with the virus, dis- 
infection is easy. For example, in the hog cholera ex- 
periments conducted by the government, closed pens 
with board floors are easily and successfully cleaned, 
but swine pens with dirt floors and yards present an en- 
tirely different problem, as the virus penetrates the soil 
and litter, is not readily reached, and can only be de- 
stroyed by a large quantity of the preparation used, thus 
rendering the operation impracticable. 

"In the disinfection of buildings, sheds, floors, etc.. 
the idea is to use some solution destructive to the virus 
and in such a way that it will come in contact with, and 
saturate, all parts of the pen. There must be no un- 
touched places where the germs may escape destruction. 
For the application of the disinfecting solution nothing 
is so effective as a good spray pump, the nozzle being 
adjusted at times so as to throw a solid stream for pene- 
trating cracks and crevices. A sufficient quantity of 
the solution must be used to thoroughly soak through 
any litter on floors, all dirt in the cracks between the 



5<J2 SWINE IN AMERICA 

Doards, etc. In the absence of a spray pump, the appli- 
cation can be made with a whitewash brush or by means 
of a broom. By this process, the shed, pen, or building- 
can be rendered entirely safe for the new animals, no 
matter how susceptible to cholera. Yard fences can be 
treated in the same way. The ground is not so easily 
cleansed. It is true that the ground can be treated the 
same as a floor, but a very large quantity of solution 
would be required. It would be necessary, in order to be 
thorough, to saturate the soil probably several inches 
deep. Partial disinfection of the ground can, of course, 
be accomplished by wetting the surface. The spreading 
of lime thickly over the surface accomplishes the same 
result, and is a good practice, but it cannot be relied 
upon for complete disinfection. Plowing yards buries 
much of the infection beneath the surface and thereby 
lessens the danger, but does not make swine entirely safe 
until the lapse of considerable time. 

"For making- the disinfecting solutions referred to, 
several preparations may be used. Crude carbolic acid, 
zenoleum, chloro-naphtholeum and chloride of lime, com- 
monly known as bleaching powder, have been much used. 
Crude carbolic acid is cheap, but has the fault of mixing 
poorly with water. For cheapness and effectiveness, few 
preparations surpass or equal chloride of lime. Used 
in the strength of from five to six ounces to a gallon of 
water, it has. in the hands of the writer, proven effectual 
in destroying the most virulent cholera virus. 

"Much depends upon the thoroughness of the appli- 
cation. If thorough work be done, buildings and all pens 
with floors can be safely used at once, but yards, even 



SANITATION IN THE HOG LOT 



5 U J 



when cleaned by the removal of litter, the liming of the 
most infected parts, and plowing, should stand for some 
time before being used again for susceptible animals. 

"One great advantage possessed by the individual hog 
house, so much used, is that it can be easily disinfected 
and removed to new yards in cholera times. 

"To the cattle feeder who must restock his infected 
yards, or suffer the loss of valuable hog feed, the ques- 
tion is a most important one. A thorough disinfection 
of such premises is impossible, but something can be 
accomplished by cleaning the sleeping quarters, destroy- 
ing the old troughs, etc. After putting the yards in 
as good condition as is possible under the circumstances, 
and waiting a short time, the owner can restock with 
danger of but little loss, providing large animals are 
bought. Larger hogs have more immunity and in case 
the disease again appears, they can be shipped to mar- 
ket on the first indication of trouble. On the other hand, 
small shotes are very susceptible to cholera, and being 
too small for slaughter, are a total loss." 



CHAPTER XX. 

Castration 

The necessity of castrating the boar pigs for pork- 
making purposes is generally admitted, but the impor- 
tance of spaying such sows as are not designed for breed- 
ers has never been appreciated as it should, or as it is 
likely to be when the rearing of swine is conducted on 
such business principles as its importance demands. 
Open sows, running with other stock hogs, are a source 
of great annoyance, and where more than two or three 
are kept, there is scarcely a time when some of their 
number are not in heat, and continually chasing the 
others, thus keeping them in a worried, fevered condi- 
tion, extremely prejudicial to growth or fattening. If 
all are properly sprayed, this is avoided, the hogs are 
quiet and restful, and much time, annoyance and feed 
are saved. 

All feeders agree that no animals in the swine herd 
feed more kindly and profitably than spayed sows, and 
there are no buyers who would not as soon, or sooner, 
have them than barrows, when they would not buy a lot 
of open sows at any price. An open sow, when fat, 
of the same dimensions externally as a spayed sow or a 
harrow, generally weighs from ten to 20 pounds .ess. 

To the feeder, the buyer, or the butcher, un spayed 
sows are usually, in one way or another, a cheat, as they 
may weigh more than they are worth from having a 

504 



CASTRATION 505 

litter of pigs in them, or may he utterly destitute of in- 
side fat, from having recently suckled pigs; in either 
case they are of less value than their appearance would 
indicate. Spayed sows are not troublesome to their 
mates, are as good as they look for feeding or market- 
ing, and command in all markets such prices as are paid 
for none but first-class stock. 

TO CASTRATE A BOAR 

An expert says : "As to the time for castrating boars, 
do it whenever most convenient, and the best way is the 
way understood by every old farmer, unless the hog is 
ruptured, in which case the striffen around the seed 
(called the scrotal sack) should be taken out with the 
seed, and the seed string tied within the neck of the 
scrotal sack with a small twine. When this is done, cut 
off the seed sack, and all behind the tie, and let the hog 
go. I do not like sewing up, as large tumors sometimes 
result from so doing. Should maggots develop in the 
gash where a hog has been cut, apply either turpentine, 
kerosene or buttermilk." 

TO CASTRATE A RTDGLING 

"In a ridgling hog the seeds are not in a scrotal sack 
or in their proper place, but in the body of the animal, 
immediately behind the kidneys. He should be cut in 
the side, the same as in spaying a sow, but the incision 
should be made of sufficient size to admit the whole hand, 
when the seeds can be found and easilv withdrawn. 



5°6 SWINE IN AMERICA 

If a boar is properly castrated five months before 
slaughtering there should be no disagreeable flavor or 
odor to his flesh. In case of incomplete castration, or 
where enough of a gland was left to keep up sexual ex- 
citement, the meat might still be affected. When the 
annual is alive there is no way to determine positively 
whether or not its flesh is free from offensive taint. 
Usually if the wound caused by castration has healed, 
and the activity and instincts peculiar to a boar have 
disappeared, and he has become fat, the meat will be 
edible. The meat of boars five or six months old can 
usually be eaten six weeks after castration. The flavor 
usually begins to disappear as soon as sexual activity 
ceases, and the animal begins to fatten ; and it should be 
entirely gone by the time the average fleshed boar is well 
fitted for market. 

TO SPAY SOWS 

"One man should be in the pen to catch, and two to 
hold the sow, by the feet alone, flat on the ground on her 
right side, and stretched out tightly. The spayer, kneel- 
ing at the sow's back, will cut the hair off of the place 
where the incision is to be made (a little back of the last 
rib, and about midway up and down) ; then cut a gash— 
if on a hundred-pound shote, about one-half inch deep 
and 3 inches long, up and down ; slip the flesh back each 
way, about an inch, making a round gash or wide in- 
cision ; then turn the knife, and stick the blade straight 
in, gently, deep enough to go through the peritoneal 
lining, or inside striffen, at the upper corner of the in- 
cision. Then put the left forefinger in, and with it and 




At Hog-KilHn' Time on the Farm 



CASTRATION 507 

the rig-lit forefinger tear the hole large enough to allow 
working room for the fingers ; feel inside near the back, 
with the first two fingers of the left hand, for the "pride," 
a little knotty lump, which cannot be mistaken, for there 
are no others like it within reach, but if it is not found, 
as is sometimes the case, then feel for small guts, called 
the "pig-bag," and take them out the best you can, until 
the first "pride" is reached; take this off; follow back 
down the pig-bag to a fork where two guts coming to- 
gether form a larger one, as two branches running to- 
gether form a creek ; here take up the other branch until 
the lower "pride" is reached ; take it off, put the pig-bag 
back in good order, and see that it is all in the belly 
proper, and not left at the gash. 

"Slack up the upper hind leg, so as to close the gash, 
and sew up with two stitches, taking good hold, but 
going only skin deep ; one stitch near the middle of the 
gash, the other above it: draw the edges together, so as 
to touch from the middle of the gash upward. Both 
stitches may be taken before tying either, and then tie 
the threads or twine, crossing each other, in the form of 
a letter X, and when the sow is let go press the hand over 
the gash as she starts off. The thread or twine used 
should not be too harsh or too tightly twisted." 



CHAPTER XXL 

Slaughtering and Curing 

Of course the most favorable season, generally, for 
slaughtering and safely caring for his pork by the farm- 
er, is, all things considered, the early weeks of winter. 
I f the hogs have been fattened in the months of most 
suitable weather, that is, in autumn, when it could be 
done most economically, they are ready, and the tem- 
perature of winter in most latitudes is such that there is 
almost no danger of the meat's souring or spoiling be- 
fore the process of curing is gotten well under way. Be- 
sides, there is an absence of flies in the cold weather. 
The great packing institutions, with their facilities for 
cooling and refrigerating, can carry on their slaughter- 
ing operations throughout the entire year; in fact, in- 
stead of as formerly, they now kill more hogs in the 
warm months than in winter, but this would be entirely 
impracticable for the ordinary farmer. 

On the farms little progress has been made in slaugh- 
tering and curing beyond the primitive methods in use a 
century ago, notwithstanding that in city packing es- 
tablishments such methods have been, in many respects, 
completely revolutionized or abandoned. The old way 
of stunning the hog by knocking on or shooting in the 
head, freeing of blood by cutting into the neck to sever 
the jugular vein, scalding in a barrel partly filled with 
water not quite boiling, into which a quart of wood 

508 



SLAUGHTERING AND CURING 509 

ashes has been thrown "to make the hair slip," scraping 
with knives and hoes, and then lifting by main strength 
the naked, slippery hog to a pole or some appliance tem- 
porarily provided, from which he can be suspended for 
gutting, washing and cooling is still followed on a large 
majority of farms. 

A barrel or cask is not the most convenient vessel in 
which to scald a hog, and any farmer who each year 
butchers a half-dozen or more good-sized porkers should 
provide himself with something different, and in which it 
is possible to maintain the water at a suitable temper- 
ature. As to what this temperature should be and the 
proper length of time the hog should be immersed few 
farmers apparently have definite ideas, and to ascertain 
what those who slaughter in a wholesale way have found 
to be the right degree of heat the author has made in- 
quiry of some of the leading packers. Among the re- 
plies Armour & Company of Chicago write: "For light 
hogs the temperature range should be 140 to 145 de- 
grees F., and the time of scalding from a minute to a 
minute and 15 seconds. For heavy hogs the temperature 
should be 150 degrees and the time from a minute to a 
minute and a half." 

Morris & Company of Chicago say: "The temperature 
we use for scalding is about 145 to 147 degrees. We al- 
low the hogs to remain in the water from lYz to two 
minutes." 

Swift & Company, Chicago, write: "Ordinarily a tem- 
perature of 145 degrees F. is the most suitable for scald- 
ing hogs, and three minutes the time they should remain 
in the water. However, both the temperature and time 



5IO SWINE IN AMERICA 

vary somewhat with the different seasons of the year; 
for instance, it takes a little longer to loosen the hair in 
the fall than it does in the spring." 

Kingan & Company of Indianapolis reply: "Killing 
hogs at the rate of 400 per hour, scalding tub tempera- 
ture should be about 148 to 150 degrees F., and the hog 
should be in the water about 1^2 minutes. Killing at a 
more rapid rate the temperature should be a little higher, 
and at a slower speed, slightly lower." 




A HEATING AND SCALDING VAT WITH SCRAPING 
PLATFORM 

A very convenient and inexpensive farm arrangement 
for heating water and scalding hogs is a plank tub or vat 
about 7 feet in length, 2^2 feet wide at the bottom, 2 
feet deep, with the sides somewhat flaring, and a galvan- 
ized iron bottom, well supported from below, set over a 
brick or stone foundation in which there is a suitable 
chamber for a fire to heat and keep heated the water for 
scalding. At its rear end should be a chimney for the 
smoke, and the sides of the vat may be banked up with 
earth. The top of the vat should be about 2^2 feet above 
the level of the ground. On a level with the top, on one 



SLAUGHTERING AND CURING 511 

side, there should be a strong platform, about 6 feet 
wide and 8 feet long', from which to scald the hogs, and 
upon which they are to be scraped after scalding. At 
one end of this, the ground should be graded up even 
with the platform, or a sloping approach built, to facili- 
tate getting the hogs onto the main platform after they 
have been killed. For convenience in lowering the hogs 
into and lifting them out of the water, two or more 
ropes, 8 or 10 feet long, should be secured to the side of 
the platform next the water, and resting on these, the 
carcass can be lowered or raised with comparative ease 
by two or three men. On the bottom of the vat there 
should be some wooden strips or a slatted frame to pre- 
vent the hog from lying directly on the bottom, as with 
much fire below, the skin would soon cook or scorch. 

The animal is immersed for a few seconds, and then, 
by means of the ropes, raised out of the water, to allow 
the air to strike its body, and then immersed again. When 
the hair readily leaves the skin, especially on the head, 
legs and feet, the hog should be removed from the water 
as soon as possible, and speedily stripped of every hair. 
When this is done the hind legs should be freely cut into 
below the gambrel joint, to reach both main cords under 
which the end of the gambrel should be inserted. The 
gambrel should be of strong wood — hickory or oak is 
best — and from 24 to 30 inches in length, according to 
the size of the hogs, and be slightly notched on the 
upper side of each end to prevent the legs from slip- 
ping off. 

Posts or forks should be so set that a strong pole 
resting on them will be in part over the platform, about 



5 12 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



6 feet from the ground, and on this the hogs can be 
hung, and slipped along toward either end, out of the 
way, after they have been thoroughly scraped and rinsed 
down. 

The butchering convenience shown on the left of the 
illustration herewith, was described to the Ohio Fanner 
by one of that journal's correspondents, who says: "Its 
main feature is the swinging derrick, such as is used by 




A NUMBER OF BUTCHERING CONVENIENCES 



stone quarries, bridge companies, etc., for hoisting heavy 
loads. We have the hog pen on one side; swing the der- 
rick around to that side, after killing; hoist the hog up, 
swing him around to the scalding barrel ; after scalding, 
swing to scraping table; after scraping, swing him on 
around to the hanging pole. We have the pen, barrel, 
(able and hanging pole on a half circle, so the derrick 
will swing around just right for each of them. The 



SLAUGHTERING AND CURING 



5*3 



.scalding barrel is set upright. The outfit need not cost 
much. Ours is made with a pole cut from the woods, 
old hay-fork pulleys and cog-wheels from an old binder. 
A self-locking block, such as is advertised, would be 
just the thing instead of the cog gearing for the hoists. 
The swing principle is what makes it so handy. The 
illustration on the right shows a simple device for lift- 
ing, and hanging a carcass at any desired height. 

The contrivance shown here is a good one for use in 
scalding and hanging a hog without any hard lifting. 




DEVICE FOR EASY SCALDING AND HANGING 



The upright is a strong post 7 or 8 feet high above the 
ground, and the sweep or arm is 16 feet long. On the 
short end should be a short chain, and attached to the 
other end is a rope for pulling down on the sweep or for 
tying to a post for holding the hog suspended at any de- 
sired height. With the scalding barrel, scraping plat- 
form and cooling rack in their proper places the hog in 
dressing is easily handled from start to finish 

A Kansas man's device for hanging a slaughtered 
hog after its hair is removed will be readily understood 



5*4 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



from the illustration. It is made of two pieces of two- 
by-fours, each 10 feet long, and one piece 12 feet long, 
for a brace to hold the frame upright. This brace is 
made longer than the legs, to reach back out of the way. 
There is a crosspiece to hold the bottom of the legs 4 
feet apart. There are two hooks 3J/2 feet from the top 





ARRANGEMENTS EOR HANGING HOGS 



to hold the hog, without a gambrel. If gambrels are 
used the frame will hold two hogs if they are not too 
heavy. To use the frame lay it across the scraping table 
with the brace outstretched. Hook the hog fast and 
raise by moving the brace forward. It raises easily be- 
cause the table holds the weight of the head and shoul- 
ders until the frame is partly up. The frame may be 
easily moved back from the table bv lifting a leg at a 
time. With this frame one man can hang a hog weigh- 
ing 400 or 500 pounds. 



SLAUGHTERING AND CURING 



515 



Opening the hogs should be clone by some one fa- 
miliar with such work, and no directions here would be 
of practical value. After removing the intestines, the 
mouth should be propped open with something, and all 
blood carefully rinsed out of the lower part of the body 
and neck. The next point, and a most important one, 
is to let the carcass, well spread on the gambrel, hang 
until thoroughly cooled in all its parts; unless this is ob- 
served, the pork cannot be cured or preserved in good 
condition, however much pains may be taken with it. 




SIMPLE DEVICES FOR HANGING HOGS 



CURING AND PRESERVING 

For the most perfect curing of meat of any kind it is 
desirable to have it from animals that before slaughter 
were in a considerable degree matured, or had attained 
their natural growth. After dressing the first requisite 
is to thoroughly cool the carcass, and for this it should 
hang in a low temperature, for 36 or more hours, but 
on no account should it freeze ; freezing the outer sur- 
face surrounds the interior of the flesh with a wall, 



-, 10 SWINE IN AMERICA 

through which the animal heat still remaining in and 
around the bones cannot escape, and the result will be 
souring and speedy decay at the center of hams, shoul- 
ders, etc., that outwardly appear in good condition. 

Meat, and particularly pork, that has been frozen and 
afterward thawed does not keep as well as that which 
has been simply chilled. Pork intended for curing- 
should never be frozen. It is stated by the authorities 
that frozen meat will spoil in sixteen hours if subjected 
to a temperature of 75 degrees. Meat hung up in an 
ordinary air temperature until the animal heat has 
passed off keeps better than that rapidly chilled im- 
mediately after dressing. 

In the case of pork intended for curing, it is found 
that a temperature which will reduce the carcass within a 
period of 48 hours to from 36 to 39 degrees at its thick- 
est and most vulnerable portion, viz., the center of the 
ham and shoulder, is the most desirable. At a tem- 
perature of 40 degrees a percentage of taint is liable to 
develop, and at any point above that temperature, tainted 
meat develops rapidly. 

Packers say that hogs will show a temperature of 106 
degrees F. on the killing rail — that is, the hams and 
shoulders — and will cut nicely at ^7 degrees F. "Joint 
meats are all the better for being chilled down to just 
above freezing before curing." 

1 laving so large a per cent of fat, side pork does not 
readily become over-salt and there is really no danger of 
injury to any but the leaner portions of the carcass by 
too much salt ; yet where salt is dear, economy would 
dictate that only so much be used as is actually necessary 



SLAUGHTERING AND CURING 5 1 7 

as a preservative. Salting with and without brine are 
both popular and both are satisfaetory. If brine or 
"pickle" is used, no danger is to be apprehended from 
insects during the pickling process; the brine extracts 
the blood and other juices from the meat, which rise to 
the surface (more rapidly in warm weather), and there 
decomposing, are likely to contaminate the entire con- 
tents of the cask, unless given occasional attention. The 
preventive of trouble in this direction is to occasionally 
subject the brine to boiling; the impurities will rise to the 
top, and are to be skimmed off; in this way the brine may 
be kept pure, and its strength undiminished, for any de- 
sired length of time. 

In "dry salting," or salting in barrels, boxes or piles 
without the addition of water to form a brine, it is of the 
utmost importance that no chance be afforded for flies to 
deposit eggs, or even to come in contact with the meat. 
If flies have had access to the pork it cannot then be 
saved, unless at once put into brine, or kept in a tem- 
perature so low the eggs cannot hatch, the latter being 
not often practicable. 

Pork is cut to suit different demands and the various 
uses for which it is intended, but the aim should be, in 
all cases, to have it in such form as to pack snugly, and 
never to pack it until thoroughly cooled throughout. 

CURING HAMS AND SHOULDERS 

Fulton, in his "Home Pork-Making,"* gives the fol- 
lowing directions for the treatment of hams and shoul- 

*Hume Pork-Making, by A. W. Fulton, Orange Judd Companv, New York. 
124 pp. 



518 SWINE IN AMERICA 

ders prior to smoking: "To each 100 pounds of meat use 
j]/2 pounds of tine salt, i>S pounds granulated sugar and 
four ounces saltpeter. Weigh the meat and the in- 
gredients in the above proportions, rub the meat thor- 
oughly with this mixture and pack closely in a tierce. 
Fill the tierce with water and roll every seven days until 
cured, which, in a temperature of 40 to 50 degrees, would 
require about 50 days for a medium ham. Large hams 
take about 10 days more for curing. When wanted for 
smoking, wash the hams in water or soak for 12 hours. 
Hang in the smokehouse and smoke slowly 48 hours and 
you will have a very good ham. While this is not the 
exact formula followed in big packing houses, it is a 
general ham cure that will make a first-class ham in 
every respect if proper attention is given it. 

"Another method of pickling preparatory to smoking 
includes the use of molasses. Though somewhat dif- 
ferent from the above formula, the careful following of 
directions cannot fail to succeed admirably. To four 
quarts of fine salt and two ounces of pulverized saltpeter, 
add sufficient molasses to make a pasty mixture. Two 
pounds of brown sugar will do as well as the molasses. 
The hams having hung in a dry, cool place for three or 
four days after cutting up, are to be covered all over 
with the mixture, more thickly on the flesh side, and 
laid skin side down for three or four days. In the mean- 
time, make a pickle of the following proportions, the 
quantities here named being for one hundred pounds. 
Coarse salt, seven pounds ; brown sugar, five pounds ; 
saltpeter, two ounces ; pearlash or potash, one-half ounce; 
soft water, four gallons. Heat gradually and as the 



SLAUGHTERING AND CURING ;, I <J 

skim rises remove it. Continue to do this as long as any 
skim rises, and when it ceases, allow the pickle to cool. 
When the hams have remained the proper time immersed 
in the mixture, cover the bottom of a clean, sweet barrel 
with salt about half an inch deep. Pack in the hams as 
closely as possible, cover them with the pickle, and 
place over them a follower with weights to keep them 
down. Small hams of 15 pounds and less, also shoul- 
ders, should remain in the pickle for five weeks ; larger 
ones will require six to eight weeks, according" to size. 
Let them dry well before smoking." In winter curing 
boiling the brine is not so essential. 

DRY SALTING BACON AND SIDES 

"For hogs weighing not over 125 or 130 pounds each, 
intended for dry curing, one bushel fine salt, two pounds 
brown sugar and one pound saltpeter will suffice for each 
800 pounds of pork ; but if the meat is large and thick, or 
weighs from 150 to 200 pounds per carcass, from a gal- 
lon to a peck more of salt and a little more of both the 
other articles should be taken. Neither the sugar nor 
the saltpeter is absolutely necessary for the preservation 
of the meat, and they are often omitted. But both are 
preservatives ; the sugar improves the flavor of the bacon, 
and the saltpeter gives it greater firmness and a finer 
color, if used sparingly. Bacon should not be so sweet 
as to suggest the 'sugar cure;' and saltpeter, used too 
freely, hardens the tissues of the meat and renders it 
less palatable. The quantity of salt mentioned is enough 
for the first salting. A little more new salt is added at 



520 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



the second salting and used together with the old salt 
that has not been absorbed. If sugar and saltpeter are 
used, first apply about a teaspoonful of pulverized salt- 
peter on the flesh side of the hams and shoulders, and 
then, taking a little sugar in the hand, apply it lightly to 
the flesh surface of all the pieces. A tablespoonful is 
enough for any one piece. 

"If the meat at the time of salting is moist and yield- 
ing to the touch, rubbing the skin side with the gloved 
hand, or the 'sow's ear,' as is sometimes insisted on, is 
unnecessary; the meat will take salt readily enough with- 
out this extra labor. But if the meat is rigid, and the 
weather very cold, or if the pieces are large and thick, 
rubbing the skin side to make it yielding and moist causes 
the salt to penetrate to the center of the meat and bone. 
On the flesh side it is only necessary to sprinkle the salt 
over all the surface. Care must be taken to get some salt 
into every depression and into the hock end of all joints. 
An experienced meat Salter goes over the pieces with 
great expedition. Taking a handful of the salt, he ap- 
plies it dexterously by a gliding motion of the hand to all 
the surface, and does not forget the hock end of the 
bones where the feet have been cut off. Only dry salt 
is used in this method of curing. The meat is never put 
into brine or 'pickle,' nor is any water added to the salt 
to render it more moist. 

FOR REST RISTRIRUTION OF THE SALT 

"A platform or bench of planks is laid down, on which 
I lie meat is packed as it is salted. The packer lays down 
first a course of middlings and then sprinkles a little 




Texas Razor-Back Boar 



Crossbred Razor-Back- 
Berkshire Pig 




Texas Razor-Back Sow 



Crossbred Razor-Back- 
Poland-China Pis; 




First Generation of Razor-Back Pigs Under Improved 
Conditions 



RAZOR-BACKS USED IN CROSSBREEDING EXPERIMENTS 
AT THE WISCONSIN EXPERIMENT STATION 



SLAUGHTERING AND CURING 521 

more salt on all the piaces that ao not appear to have 
quite enough. Xext comes a layer of shoulders and then 
another layer of middlings, until all these pieces have 
l)een laid. From time to time a little more salt is added, 
as appears to he necessary. The hams are reserved for 
the top layer, the ohject being to prevent them from he- 
coming- too salt. In a large hulk of meat the brine, as it 
settles down, lodges upon the lower pieces, and some of 
them get rather more than their quota of salt. Too 
much saltiness spoils the hams. In fact, it spoils any 
meat to have it too salt, but it requires less to spoil the 
hams, because, as a rule, they are mostly lean meat. The 
jowls, heads and livers, on account of the quantity of 
blood about them, are put in a separate pile, after being 
salted. The chines and spareribs are but slightly salted 
and laid on top of the bulk of neat meat. Close-fitting 
boxes, which some use to keep the rats from meat, are 
not the best; the meat needs air. 

"In ten days to three weeks, according to weather and 
size of the meat, break bulk and resalt, using the old 
salt again, with just a little new salt added. In four to 
six davs more, or sooner, if need be, break up and wash 
the meat nicely, preparatory to smoking it. Some 
farmers do not wash the salt off, but the meat takes 
smoke better and looks nicer if washed." 

Another method having the highest recommendations 
is to leave the meat in a cool, dry place for at least 36 
hours after being cut up in order that the animal heat 
may escape. It should not be permitted to freeze under 
any circumstances. The recipe for curing material for 
each 100 pounds of meat is to mix together thoroughly 



5 22 



SWINE IX AMERICA 



lYi pounds white granulated sugar, i l /> ounces finely 
ground black pepper, one-half ounce of finely pulverized 
saltpeter and 12 pounds of the best salt. Rub each 
piece of meat thoroughly with the mixture in the bare 
hand, afterward laying meat side down. The skin side 
of the meat will need only the one (first) treatment. 
The meat should be examined about once a week for 
four or five weeks to see that any that has absorbed the 
mixture is given a further thorough rubbing with it, 
taking pains to see that the parts around the bone are 
thoroughly treated. After about five weeks the meat 
can be smoked, hickory wood or corncobs being excel- 
lent for this purpose. From eight to ten days of smok- 
ing is sufficient, but some authorities claim that smoking 
for two days and then discontinuing the smoke for 
two or three days is better than continuous smoking. 
When properly smoked the meat will have a dark or to- 
bacco brown color. After the smoking is completed the 
meat can be wrapped in paper and stored in a cool, dry 
place away from flies. The more thoroughly it is 
wrapped the more secure it is likely to be against the 
attacks of insects. 

The preservative principle of smoke is known as 
creosote. If the smoking process is too much hurried, 
the creosote will not have time to penetrate the entire 
substance of the meat, but ten days' steady smoking is, in 
all cases, sufficient, unless the pieces are unusually large 
and very thick. Smoked meats may be left in the smoke- 
house for some time during moderate weather. The 
house should be kept perfectly dark and well enough 
ventilated to prevent dampness. A dry, cool cellar or 



SLAUGHTERING AND CURING $2$ 

an attic with free circulation will be a satisfactory place 
for smoked meats at all seasons, if it is kept dark and 
Hies are excluded. If to be held but a short time, hams 
and bacon will need only to be hung separately without 
covering. For longer keeping, it will be necessary to 
wrap them first in paper, and then in burlap, canvas, or 
muslin, when they may be buried in grain, bran or 
ashes, or in some other suitable way kept at a uniform 
temperature and protected from insects. Ground pepper 
rubbed into each piece before wrapping will be distaste- 
ful to the insects. For absolute safe-keeping for an 
indefinite period of time it is essential that the meat be 
thoroughly cured. 

PORK FOR THE SOUTH 

"This requires a little different treatment," says Ful- 
ton's "Home Pork-Making." "It is dry-salted and 
smoked. The sides, hams and shoulders are laid on a 
table and rubbed thoroughly with salt and saltpeter (one 
ounce to five pounds of salt), clear saltpeter being rubbed 
in around the ends of the bones. The pieces are laid up, 
with salt between, and allowed to lie. The rubbing is re- 
peated at intervals of a week until the meat is thoroughly 
salted through, and it is then smoked. It must afterward 
be left in the smokehouse, canvased or buried in a box 
of ashes, to protect it from the flies." 

Dry salt pork for southern use in winter needs to be 
cured in salt for 30 days, but for summer use it should 
have from 50 to 60 days' curing. 



524 SWINE IN AMERICA 

NET PERCENTAGE THAT HOGS WILL DRESS 

A question that frequently confronts farmers is that 
of dressing the hogs at home and selling the carcasses, 
or selling alive. Some townspeople are glad to buy 
dressed hogs for private use and will pay a good price 
for a carcass that has been nicely dressed. Whether 
it will pay to dress and sell thus or sell to the stock 
buyer is a question. 

Where one has but a few hogs it is often very profitable 
to dispose of them dressed. One should, of course, al- 
low for labor required in slaughtering, fuel used in heat- 
ing water, and other miscellaneous expenses. Then by 
knowing how many pounds of pork every 100 pounds of 
live hog will make, the price that he must have for the 
carcass to get the same as for the live animal can be 
determined. 

Several factors influence the yield by a hog. Con- 
formation, waste, degrees of fatness and development — 
all play important parts. Thick, deep-bodied hogs are 
always better dressers than those that are narrow and 
shallow. By adding length of body something is also 
added to the yield. Animals that are big bellied are al- 
ways objectionable, because not only is the offal or waste 
great, but the side is unshapely. The paunch alone 
sometimes makes a difference of one or more per cent in 
the dressing, and, with contents included, this difference 
sometimes becomes as great as five per cent. 

An intelligent writer says: "Degree of fatness and 
development probably influence the yield more than any 
other factors. Because of this, hoo-s that are well de- 



SLAUGHTERING AND CURING 525 

veloped in all parts and of good size, in addition to 
being- extremely fat, are always the best dressers. The 
development of muscle means enlargement of the cells 
that make it, and fattening means the depositing of fat 
about muscle fibers and around the muscles of the body. 
The extreme development of muscle and fat then must 
give the extreme weight that can be secured from the 
carcass. 

"The viscera does not increase in weight propor- 
tionately as the development takes place, therefore there 
is a greater yield of edible meat. Taking ordinary hogs 
as they run as regards fatness and development after 
being off feed for only 12 hours, the writer has found 
that the yields are about as follows for various weights : 

Per Cent 
Pounds Dressed 

Weight of hog 100 72 

150 73 

200 75 



a a 



" " 250 77 



(l a 



30° 79 

" " 350-500 80-87 

"It will be noticed that the small, immature, unfinished 
hog dresses the least, and the large, mature and finished 
hog dresses out the most weight of carcass. For every 
100 pounds additional to live weight the hog increases 
in yield approximately four per cent." 



CHAPTER XXII 

Razor-Backs Not "Cholera-Proof " 
or Profitable 

There is a belief, perhaps justifiable, held by numerous 
breeders that many of the more highly bred swine are 
over-refined, and that the system of mating and rearing 
by which they were produced has made them delicate, 
and more susceptible to disease, while lessening their 
feeding qualities and growthiness. Those who have had 
this belief have in many instances further believed that 
the best available corrective of the defect and a restorer 
of the desired robust hardiness would be an infusion of 
blood from the supposedly hardier and more vigorous 
wild or half-wild hogs quite common in some parts of 
the South and Southwest, and known as Razor-Backs, 
which unfounded tradition says are "cholera-proof." 

The Wisconsin experiment station made an attempt 
to discover whether there were good grounds for the 
belief in the extra hardiness or feeding qualities of the 
wild hogs, and secured a stock of them from Texas, 
which were used especially in crossing with improved 
breeds, the story of which is told in Annual Reports 19 
and 20 of the Wisconsin station. 

A striking incident of the experiments, not contem- 
plated in the beginning, was that from an attack of 
"cholera" the Razor-Back pigs were the first to die, thus 



RAZOR-BACKS NOT CHOLERA-PROOF OR PROFITABLE ;,2J 

forcibly suggesting that the alleged hardiness of the wild 
hog, so often claimed as disease-proof, exists •mainly in 
the imagination. Referring to this Prof. \Y '. L. Carlyle, 
who had the experiments in charge, says: "The epi- 
demic took about 50 per cent of our pure-bred hogs and 
about 92 per cent of the cross-bred Razor-Backs. Why 
the fatality was greater with the cross-bred animals than 
with the others I do not know, unless it was that their 
ancestors had never been afflicted to any extent with 
this disease, and they were, therefore, more susceptible 
to its inroads." The experiments at the Wisconsin sta- 
tion were undertaken, at least in part, to determine pri- 
marily whether pure Razor-Back hogs would consume as 
much food of a similar kind and make from it as great 
a live weight gain as pigs of crossed Razor-Back or im- 
proved breeding, thus determining the truth as to the im- 
pression among some stockmen that scrub stock will make 
as good gains in feeding as animals better bred. Twelve 
shotes were selected ; six were Razor-Backs, and the other 
six were the get of a Razor-Back boar out of Berkshire 
and Poland-China sows. Both lots were fed twice daily 
all they would eat of a mixture in equal parts of ground 
corn, ground rye and shorts, for four weeks, and at the 
end of that time the feed was continued seven weeks 
longer, but with the addition of 1.4 parts of milk to one 
part of grain. The table on the next page shows the 
initial weights, feeding, and weekly gains of the animals. 
It was found that the cross-bred pigs ate considerably 
greater quantities of grain than the Razor-Backs, and 
made greater gains in proportion to the feed consumed. 



5*8 



SWINE IN AMERICA 





















c 


A 






















01 

bo 


o 






1st generation. 


a 

ni 


2d generation. 


•0 

c 




,a 












C 








c 


e-o 


■a fi 


A 










































M+J 


°3 o c/5 


H bo 


G 


Number of pigs. 


71 


72 


74 


o'S 


61 


62 


04 




H is o 


CO 




Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Initial weights. . 


99 


118 


141 


358 


149 


175 
3 


lo2 


486 


844 












Gain, 1st week. 


4 


-3 


-4 


-3 


3 


5 


11 


8 


140.1 




2d " . 


4 


3 


-1 


6 


8 


7 


7 


22 


28 


133.1 




3d *' . 


3 


4 


2 


9 


4 


-1 


3 


6 


15 


126 




4th " . 


7 


4 


8 


19 


5 




3 


8 


27 


138 




5th " . 


11 


13 


8 


32 


28 


22 


8 


58 


90 


163 


240 


6th " . 


7 


5 


6 


18 


3 


9 


12 


24 


42 


177 


352 


7th " . 


10 


10 


16 


36 




-3 


20 


17 


53 


210 


395 


8th " . 


8 


10 


2 


20 


18 


29 


1 


48 


68 


210 


420 


9th " . 


1 


1 


6 


8 


2 


4 


13 


19 


27 


210 


420 


" 10th " . 


11 


11 


16 


38 


9 


5 


14 


28 


66 


217.5 


440 


" 11th " . 


8 


5 




13 


12 


12 


1 


25 


38 


210 


390 


Total gain... 


74 


63 


59 


196 


92 


87 


87 


266 


462 


1934.5 


2657 


Final weight 


173 


181 


200 


554 


241 


262 


249 


752 


1306 











The gains made by the Razor-Backs were extremely vari- 
able, and a satisfactory gain by an individual in one week 
would be offset by no gain in the preceding and succeed- 
ing weeks. This was probably due to the intermittent 
opportunities offered to the hogs in the wild state for 
obtaining their food, as the Razor-Backs would gorge 
themselves and then eat sparingly for some time, when 
they would again devour all they could contain. The 
experiment showed that it cost one-half cent per pound 
more to produce gain with Razor-Backs than with cross- 
breds. The Razor-Backs were not able to thrive on 
corn or other concentrated rations and required con- 
siderably more bulky food and pasturage. 

In another experiment an interesting comparison was 
made between Razor-Backs and Razor-Back-cross-breds 



RAZOR-BACKS NOT CHOLERA-PROOF OR PROFITABLE 520, 



with pure-breds. The Razor-Backs ate a smaller amount 
of feed than any other type, and made the smallest gain. 
The table below shows initial weights, weekly gain and 
feed, with total weights, gain and feed eaten by the 
cross-bred Razor-Back-Poland-China and Razor-Back- 
Berkshire pigs : 





Razor-back 


5 


Razor-back 


c 










Poland-Ch 


mas 


Berkshires. 


S'— £ 


O <n 












C 




c 


bo o 55 


"O $ 


a 
















"Go 


















bO,J 






c 


















Number of pigs.. 


83 


85 


S9 


o oj 
H is 


97 


101 


112 


ro be 
o'S 


Tota 

and 

both 


Tota 
both 






Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 


Lbs. 




156 


156 


162 


474 


153 


151 


135 
3 


439 


913 












Gain, 1st week. 


4 


3 


7 


14 


1 





4 


18 


140 




2d " . 


5 


5 


6 


16 


10 


4 


8 


22 


38 


154 




3d " . 


13 


5 


10 


28 


7 


10 


7 


24 


52 


193.5 




4th " . 


7 


13 


8 


28 


13 


i 


1 1 


31 


59 


213 




5th " . 


15 


16 


17 


48 


14 


20 


15 


49 


97 


247.5 


34S 


6th " . 


11 


22 


14 


47 


21 


14 


16 


51 


98 


259.5 


524 


7th " . 


10 


12 


9 


31 


15 


3 


9 


27 


58 


273 


560 


8th " . 


2 


17 


13 


32 


11 


19 


13 


43 


75 


273 


560 


9th " . 


10 


_2 


11 


19 


8 


3 


11 


22 


41 


273 


560 


" 10th " . 


15 


2 5 


13 


53 


19 


1 1 


12 


42 


95 


292.5 


61 1 


" 11th " . 


4 


12 


14 


30 


12 


16 


15 


43 


73 


269 


572 


Total gain... 


96 


128 


122 
284 


346 


131 


107 


120 


358 


704 


2588.0 


3736 


Final weight 


252 


284 


820 


284 


258 


255 


797 


1617 







Set forth in another way, some of the results of these 
experiments are shown thus : 



Razor- 
back. 



Average amount of grain feed eaten daily 

Average amount of milk eaten daily 

Average amount of grain for 100 pounds of gain 

Average amount of milk for 100 pounds of gain 

Average daily gain of each pig 

Average amount of grain for 100 pounds gain the first 4 weeks. 
Average amount of grain for 100 pounds gain the last 7 weeks 
Amount of grain saved by each 100 pounds milk fed 




530 SWINE IN AMERICA 

The experiments were interrupted by an outbreak of 
"cholera," or the investigations would have been much 
further extended. The report, in commenting upon re- 
sults arrived at, says: "The experiment resulted in show- 
ing that the cross-bred pigs made greater gains and con- 
sumed more feed, but required less grain per ioo pounds 
gain. The cross-breds made a total gain of 704 pounds 
and the Razor-Backs a gain of 462 pounds, and a daily 
gain of 1.52 pounds and 1.02 pounds respectively. The 
second generation of Razor-Backs made a total gain of 
70 pounds over the representatives of the first genera- 
tion. This shows very clearly what the change of en- 
vironment did for the second generation ; their appear- 
ance also indicated that they were capable of consuming 
more food and putting on greater gains than the first 
generation. The Razor-Backs made very irregular 
gains, increasing considerably in one week and not any 
the next. This was due to the fact that their appetites 
were variable and they would overeat occasionally. This 
may be attributed to inherited peculiarity, due to the 
irregular food supply of their ancestors. Incidentally, 
the value of skimmed milk when fed with a ration, such 
as was given to these pigs, was worked out. It was 
found that 100 pounds was worth the equivalent of 6.26 
pounds of grain in the case of the cross-bred pigs, and 
9.78 pounds of grain for the Razor-Backs. The reason 
for this great difference in the value of skimmed milk 
for these two lots was thought to be due to the fact 
that the Razor-Backs have not been found to thrive best 
on a heavy grain ration. It may be that the pigs of the 
first generation made as good gains for the food con- 



RAZOR-BACKS NOT CHOLERA-PROOF OR PROFITABLE 53 1 

sumed as those of the second generation, yet the data 
presented clearly brings out the fact that they fell far 
behind in rate of gain, and we may safely assume from 
their appearances that they were not nearly equal to the 
pigs of the second generation, in ability either to con- 
sume large quantities of food or to assimilate and store 
the food nutriments in their body tissues." 

There should be no hesitation about recognizing the 
qualities obtained through selection and breeding. In- 
judicious work in this regard may, however, develop 
bad traits as well as good ones, but the good breeder 
will take care to eliminate these. More is to be lost 
than gained by introducing strains of wild or Razor- 
Back blood. The Razor-Back is at variance with any 
desirable uniformity, and this applies to both fattening 
qualities and form. In any case, where an attempt has 
been made to introduce crosses of Razor-Back or any 
other miscellaneous kind of swine, the results have been 
in the end unsatisfactory. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

The Most Common Diseases of Swine 

THIS NOT A VETERINARY WORK 

This book is not that of a veterinary surgeon, and no 
one lacking the training of a veterinarian, or its equiva- 
lent in practical experience, should presume to lay down 
the law of diseases which afflict swine. There are 
times, however, when ready reference to the most gen- 
erally approved remedies or treatments becomes essential 
to the swine husbandman, and to meet such situations 
this chapter has been prepared, by assembling here the 
advice and suggestions as to prevention and treatment 
of the more common ailments of swine by men esteemed 
highly competent to deal with the respective subjects. 

The best and surest "cure" for any disease is undoubt- 
edly prevention, but as any breeder is aware, there are 
frequently occasions when such a suggestion is little more 
than an aggravation. When disease attacks his herd 
the owner desires information which points to the best 
possible immediate relief, and the problem then con- 
fronting him is not one of prevention. X T evertheless, as 
one of the men quoted in this chapter aptly suggests, the 
time to look out for a disease is six months or a year be- 
fore it is expected. It should not require special medi- 
cal training or technical knowledge on the breeder's part 
Id realize that clean, dry quarters, a supply of whole- 
some water and a reasonable use of disinfectants will go 

532 



THE MOST COMMON DISEASES OF SWIMC 533 

far toward keeping away diseases which would thrive 
where filth, foul water and lack of care were present. 

The greatest annoyance and losses by disease with 
which the hog raiser contends comes from so-called 
"cholera," swine plague, and from tuberculosis. Dr. 
J. R. Mohler of the United States Department of Agri- 
culture has made the statement that the loss from tuber- 
culosis is greater than from any other disease, and this 
condition has come about in comparatively recent years. 
The last word is far from being said regarding what 
should or may be done to stamp out these diseases, and 
the best that can be recorded now is that the government 
authorities, as well as other experimentalists in this 
country and abroad, are believed to be making progress 
toward a definite procedure in the work of eradicating 
the scourges so much to be dreaded. In fact, authorities 
are confident that prevention of cholera by vaccination, 
properly done by an expert, is unquestionably practicable. 

In summing up the tremendous losses by diseases, Dr. 
D. E. Salmon, Chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry, 
once said : "When the investigations of swine diseases 
were commenced by the government in 1878, the annual 
losses were estimated at from $20,000,000 to $30,- 
000,000. They have gone on increasing with the growth 
of the swine industry, until it appears from statistics (in 
1898) that have been gathered in some states, they some- 
times reach $60,000,000 or $70,000,000 a year — possibly 
more if the ravages in the sections heard from are 
equaled in all of the hog-raising states. 

"These losses and their effects upon the country are 
not appreciated fully by man}' of the people, and it is 



534 SWINE IN AMERICA 

common to hear the remark, even among- farmers, that 
were it not for cholera hogs would be so numerous and 
so cheap that they would be worth nothing. This is a 
superficial and incorrect opinion. If there were no 
cholera hogs could be produced cheaper than at present, 
and the number marketed would be increased until the 
price was forced down to the limit of profitable produc- 
tion. But on the other hand, when the limit of profit 
was reached, the number grown would be reduced, just 
as happens at present, and the average returns from the 
grain fed would not vary greatly from what are now 
received. 

"With no contagious diseases, however, the hog raiser 
would be doing a much safer business than at present; 
he would not be subject to such disastrous periodical 
losses, and he could consequently sell his animals lower 
and still make more money than at present. Lowering 
the price of pork would be a great boon to thousands of 
consumers and would greatly stimulate our export trade. 
Above all, perhaps, would be the saving and adding to 
the wealth of the country of the fifty, sixty or seventy 
millions of dollars' worth of property now annihilated 
every year. 

"The hog disease question is, therefore, one worthy of 
the most careful and persistent study, and while primarily 
an agricultural problem, in its broader sense it is one 
which affects many industries and even has a material 
effect upon the nation." 

IMPORTANCE OF PREVENTION 

Dr. A. S. Alexander says: "There are several fea- 
sible plans of lighting disease among hogs, and these 



THE MOST COMMON DISEASES OF SWINE 535 

should be followed wherever swine are kept. In the 
first place, every precaution should be taken to raise hoys 
of strong vitality, and this is to be accomplished by using 
robust breeding stock, not too closely related, but 
changed often enough to prevent the weaknesses sure to 
result from consanguineous breeding. Next, the hogs 
at all stages of life should be fed in such a way as to in- 
duce full exercise of the excretory organs, and inciden- 
tally or primarily of the respiratory organs, that the 
blood circulation may be active and the blood pure. 
The surroundings of hogs are to be kept as clean and 
free from germs as possible ; the food and drinking water 
must be protected against germ contamination ; worms 
are to be prevented or destroyed ; indigestion is to be 
avoided so far as possible, and all known sources of the 
specific germs of cholera, swine plague, etc., are to be 
excluded from the premises. 

"Medicine is an afterthought and used mostly when 
trouble has been observed. It seldom is effective where 
actual disease is absent, and if used strongly as a pre- 
ventive, is apt to cause conditions conducive to disease. 
For these reasons, the less medicine hogs are required 
to take, the better will it be for them, provided they are 
properly fed and cared for, disinfectants and whitewash 
frequently and freely used about the pens, the drink- 
ing water is pure, the food suitable, well-balanced and 
free from germ contamination or conditions likely to 
cause derangement of the digestive organs. It is right 
and beneficial, however, to mix a disinfectant in the 
slop now and then as a preventive, and hogs have been 
found to take readily to slop impregnated with coal tar 



536 SWINE IN AMERICA 

disinfectant at the rate of from a pint to a quart per bar- 
rel. There can be no question that such a use of disin- 
fectant is useful in preventing or destroying worms and 
germs in the intestinal tract, and so warding off cholera 
and other enteric diseases. It also is legitimate to use 
other simple correctives with the hope of preventing in- 
digestion, and these may include salt, charcoal, wood 
ashes, stone coal, epsom salts, glauber salts and lime 
water. Strong irritating medicines should be avoided 
and no medicine the exact composition of which is un- 
known should be used. One cannot afford to trust to 
the other fellow's intelligence or integrity when it comes 
to treating hogs for disease or attempting to prevent its 
ravages. For the latter reason, and the fear of contamina- 
tion, it is a wise policy to keep the hog-cholera-patent- 
dope peddler off the place by any means necessary." 

HOG CHOL.ERA AND SWINE PLAGUE 

The latest and perhaps the most informing presenta- 
tion of the subject of hog cholera, and incidentally swine 
plague, is that by Dr. M. Dorset, of the Bureau of Ani- 
mal Industry, United States Department of Agriculture, 
in Farmers' Bulletin No. 379, issued November iy, 1909, 
from which the following" is condensed. This bulletin 
"was prepared especially for the use of the practical 
farmer in order that he may be enabled to recognize the 
disease and to deal with it effectively" : 

"Hog cholera is an acute febrile disease which, so far 
as is known, affects only hogs, and which is character- 
ized by extreme contagiousness and a very high death 
rate. It is usual to speak of two forms of this disease. 



THE MOST COMMON DISEASES OF SWINE 53/ 

One is called the acute and the other the chronic form. 
This is because of the fact that in some cases the dis- 
ease is sudden in its onset and rapid in its course, 
whereas in others, the affected hogs linger for weeks or 
months before death or recovery. Notwithstanding the 
dissimilarity in the symptoms and lesions observed in 
these two types, the causative agent is the same in both, 
the difference in the manifestations of the disease being 
no doubt due to a variation in the virulence of the germs 
which cause the disease, and possibly to some extent 
also to a variation in the resisting power of hogs. While 
outbreaks may occur at all seasons of the year, the great 
majority take place during the late summer and fall. 
The mortality is as high as ioo per cent in some herds, 
while the average is probably from 70 to 80 per cent, 
and many of the hogs which survive are comparatively 
worthless, owing to their being weakened and stunted in 
growth. 

THE GERM WHICH CAUSES CHOLERA 

"The germ or microbe which causes cholera is present 
in the blood of sick hogs, and also in the excretions 
from such hogs, particularly in the urine. It has been 
shown that the disease can be produced almost without 
fail by inoculating well hogs with the blood or urine 
from sick hogs. The germ which is in this blood and 
urine is so small, or else of such structure, that it can 
not be seen with the strongest microscopes. 

"While the specific cause of cholera is the minute mi- 
cro-organism or germ just referred to, there are many 
factors which may render a herd more susceptible to 



538 SWINE IN AMERICA 

the disease. Anything which tends to lower the health 
of the animals may be regarded as a predisposing cause. 
Among such predisposing factors are improper feeding, 
an insanitary condition of the hog lots, damp or cold 
sleeping places, and dirty drinking and feeding troughs. 
Insanitary surroundings and poor feed can not in them- 
selves produce cholera, but they lower the vitality of 
hogs to such an extent that they become comparatively 
easy victims of any disease-producing germs to which 
they are exposed. 

WAYS IN WHICH THE CHOLERA GERMS REACH A HERD 

"Although the conditions just mentioned undoubtedly 
exert considerable influence upon the relative resisting 
powers of hogs to cholera, the disease can be started in 
a herd only by introducing the germ which causes it. 
This germ is always present in the bodies of sick hogs, 
and is thrown off from them in large numbers in the 
feces and urine, thus contaminating the yards or pens 
in which sick hogs are kept. The most dangerous factor 
in spreading" cholera is, therefore, the sick hog; but any 
agency which might serve to carry a particle of dirt 
from infected yards may be the means of starting an 
outbreak. 

"Sick hogs may get onto a farm (1) by escaping 
from a neighboring herd, (2) by the purchase of new 
stock which may show no symptoms of sickness until 
some days after purchase, (3) by returning show hogs 
to the herd after visits to fairs or stock shows, (4) by 
purchase of hogs which have apparently recovered from 
cholera. The risk incurred by purchase of new hogs or 



THE MOST COMMON DISEASES OF SWINE 539 

the return of hogs which have been shown at fairs is 
chiefly due to the fact that such hogs are generally 
transported by rail, unloaded in public stock yards, or 
driven along public roads. It is well known that sick 
hogs are frequently shipped by rail, and the roads over 
which they are driven, the stock yards, and the railroad 
cars thus become contaminated with the germs. The 
only safe plan is to place new arrivals in lots entirely 
separated from those occupied by the main herd, and to 
keep them isolated until all danger of their developing 
hog cholera has passed. 

"Aside from the danger of introducing infection 
through the hogs themselves, the germ may be trans- 
ported in a minute particle of dirt on the feet of attend- 
ants or neighbors who have previously visited farms 
where cholera exists. It may also be carried in this way 
by dogs, and by crows and other birds. It has been 
claimed that the disease may be carried downstream 
from herds which are affected above. It is therefore 
well to avoid placing hogs so that they will have access 
to streams which pass through other farms. 

"After cholera has visited a farm, the lots, houses, 
feeding troughs, and implements used for cleaning have 
naturally become contaminated with the germs, and if 
new stock is placed in such yards soon after these were 
occupied by sick hogs, the new hogs are very likely to 
contract the disease, but if such yards are left unoccu- 
pied the germs will die out after a while. It is not 
possible to tell just how long a time is required for 
these germs to die out. It is safest to wait as long as 
possible before placing new hogs in lots that have been 



54-0 SWINE IN AMERICA 

infected — not sooner than three months after the last 
hog has been removed. Before restocking, the premises 
should be cleaned and thoroughly disinfected. 

SYMPTOMS OP CHOLERA 

"The beginning of cholera in a herd is marked by the 
sickness of one or two hogs, and the disease may not 
be suspected until a week or 'two later, when other hogs 
are attacked. As the number of sick hogs increases the 
opportunities for the well animals to contract the disease 
are multiplied, and in a comparatively short time all 
hogs exposed will be attacked. 

"The symptoms observed in particular cases will be 
influenced by the virulence of the germ responsible for 
the attack, and also by the resisting power of the hogs. 
If this resisting power is low, or if the germ is of high 
virulence, we may have a typical manifestation of the 
acute type of cholera. In this the chief symptoms are 
sluggishness, disinclination to move, weakness, loss of 
nppetite, a high fever, inflammation of the eyes with 
gumming of the lids, and maybe diarrhea. If the 
animals are examined carefully, red or purplish blotches 
may be seen on the skin, especially over the surface of 
the abdomen, on the inside of the legs, and around the 
ears and neck. As a rule the progress of the infection 
is so rapid that the hog is not greatly emaciated before 
death ; it is, in fact, usual in acute outbreaks for hogs 
to die after being sick only a few days. 

"In the chronic type of the disease the symptoms are 
quite similar to those seen in acute cases. The sick 



THE MOST COMMON DISEASES OF SWINE 54I 

hogs are sluggish and disinclined to move when dis- 
turbed, and coughing is frequently heard when they are 
suddenly roused. They may eat Very little and usually 
lose flesh rapidly, finally becoming so emaciated and 
weak that they stagger or walk with an uncertain gait, 
the hind-legs particularly appearing to be very weak. 
The eyes become inflamed and the lids may be gummed 
together. After the first few days of illness there is apt 
to be a profuse diarrhea, and in these chronic cases the 
hog usually lingers for several weeks, sometimes months, 
before it finally dies. It is extremely rare for such an 
animal to recover sufficiently to be of value. 

"At the beginning of an outbreak in a herd it is a 
difficult matter to be sure that hog cholera is actually 
present, for the outward symptoms are not character- 
istic, but only such as might be expected in any acute 
disease. The same may be said of some of the changes 
which take place in the internal organs. It is therefore 
necessary to consider all of the features of the disease 
before making a positive decision concerning the pres- 
ence or absence of hog cholera in a herd. 

"The important features of hog cholera are : 

"1. Contagiousness. 

"2. Symptoms of severe illness, such as fever, weak- 
ness, loss of appetite, and diarrhea. 

"3. Hemorrhagic spots in the internal organs or but- 
ton-like ulcers in the intestines. 

"If these characteristics are found in a disease of 
hogs in this country, we may be reasonably certain of 
the presence of cholera. 

"Among the few diseases which may lead to uncer- 



54-> SWINE IN AMERICA 

tainty are digestive troubles (due to improper feeding), 
swine plague, tuberculosis, anthrax, and inflammation of 
the lungs caused by worms. 

SWINE PLAGUE 

"It is not practicable for a farmer to attempt to dis- 
tinguish between hog cholera and swine plague, for, 
while swine plague is generally regarded as a lung affec- 
tion, and cholera as a disease of the intestines, the fact 
is that practically all of the lesions which are found in 
cases of cholera have also been reported as being present 
in outbreaks of swine plague. There is at present a 
tendency on the part of those who have investigated 
these diseases to regard both cholera and swine plague 
as caused by the same invisible germ, the predominance 
of lung lesions in one case and intestinal inflammation 
in the other being caused by the action of different 
germs which attack the hog after it has been made sick 
by the invisible germ which is looked upon as the prime 
cause of the disease in both cases. However this may 
be, it is quite safe to say that the great losses which 
occur among hogs in this country are brought about by 
cholera, and that, for the present at least, we may ignore 
the existence of swine plague as a separate disease, espe- 
cially as the general measures for controlling it are the 
same as those required in cases of cholera. 

HOW CHOLERA DIFFERS FROM TUBERCULOSIS 

"The distinguishing features between hog cholera and 
tuberculosis are that in tuberculosis the onset is slow 



THE MOST COMMON DISEASES OF SWINE 543 

rather than sudden, as is the case in cholera ; likewise 
the progress is very slow, and the symptoms are those 
of general unthriftiness rather than of acute illness. 
Tuberculosis does not show a tendency to spread rap- 
idly, as is the case in cholera, and the deaths, if any 
occur, will in the vast majority of cases follow a pro- 
longed illness. 

ANTHRAX 

"Hogs are rarely affected by anthrax, but when this 
does occur it might be readily mistaken for acute chol- 
era. The distinguishing features of anthrax are marked 
swelling of the throat and tongue, with frequently a 
bloody froth in the mouth, and further by the fact that 
anthrax in hogs usually follows disease in other animals 
on the farm, horses, cattle, and sheep being more sus- 
ceptible to anthrax than hogs. 

LUNG WORMS 

"Young, growing pigs are at times attacked by lung 
worms, which bring about an inflammation of the air 
passages. The most important symptoms are general 
unthriftiness, and a hard cough. Old hogs are rarely 
attacked and the younger hogs usually recover. The 
worms are very small (one-half to one inch in length), 
and examination of the frothy expectoration of sick 
hogs or of the lungs after death is usually required to 
make a positive diagnosis. In this disease there is an 
entire absence of symptoms of acute illness such as 
usually accompany an attack of cholera. 



544 SWINE IX AMERICA 

GENERAL PREVENTIVE MEASURES 

"All that is necessary to prevent hog cholera is to keep 
the germ of the disease away from the herd. In the 
vast majority of cases this germ is transported mechan- 
ically, in the bodies of sick hogs and on the feet of men 
or animals, including birds. It thus follows that the 
chances of an outbreak of hog cholera will be greatly 
lessened, if not completely avoided, if a herd is protected 
from these carriers of the infection. The enforcement 
of a complete quarantine is not practicable, and the best 
that can be hoped for is the lessening of the opportunity 
for infection by placing the herd on a part of the farm 
that will be the least accessible to men or animals from 
other farms. Hog lots should never be located near 
public roads. All newly purchased stock should be kept 
separate from the main herd for at least thirty days. 

"In addition to protecting by methods of quarantine, 
careful attention should be given to the general health. 
The hogs should be provided with clean, dry sleeping 
places, and the lots and feeding troughs be kept clean. 
It is well occasionally to scatter slaked lime about the 
lots and to wash and disinfect the troughs. Probably 
the best disinfectant for this purpose is the compound 
solution of cresol ( U. S. P.), which can be prepared at 
any drug store. One part of this should be mixed with 
30 parts of water and the troughs scrubbed with it. The 
disinfectant is then washed out of the troughs with water. 

"After an outbreak of cholera the yards and pens 
should be thoroughly cleaned, all dead hogs should be 
burned or buried deep with quicklime, the litter should 



THE MOST COMMON DISEASES OF SWINE 545 

be collected and burned, and lime scattered freely over 
the ground. The sheds and hog houses should be 
washed thoroughly with the solution of cresol as de- 
scribed before new stock is brought on the place. Feed- 
ing troughs used by sick pigs should be burned if made 
of wood, but if this is not practicable they should be 
scrubbed clean and thoroughly soaked with the cresol 
solution, the latter being washed out before the troughs 
are used again. 

"It is possible to start an outbreak of hog cholera by 
bringing hogs on the farm that have had the disease 
and have apparently recovered. For safety's sake two 
or three months should elapse after complete recovery 
before placing such an animal with susceptible pigs, and 
then only after washing or dipping in a disinfectant 
solution (compound solution of cresol, i to ioo)." 

"In Farmers' Bulletin 24, Dr. D. F. Salmon gave the 
following formula for a medicine which was used many 
years ago as a preventive and cure for hog cholera : 

Pounds 

Wood charcoal 1 

Sulphur 1 

Sodium chlorid 2 

Sodium bicarbonate 2 

Sodium hyposulphite 2 

Sodium sulphate 1 

Antimony sulphid (black antimony) 1 

"Experience has shown that this is not to be regarded 
as a cure or preventive in the true sense, but is never- 
theless a very good condition powder. This is mixed 
with the feed in the proportion of a large tablespoonful 



546 SWINE IN AMERICA 

to each 200 pounds' weight of hogs to be treated, and 
given once a day. 

PREVENTION BY INOCULATION 

"The Bureau of Animal Industry has endeavored for 
a number of years to find a medicine or serum which 
could be used for preventing hog cholera or for curing 
hogs sick of that disease. It is a well-known fact that 
hogs which have recovered from hog cholera are there- 
after immune against that disease. The experiments of 
the Bureau resulted in the discovery that it is entirely 
possible to protect hogs if they are treated with serum 
from a properly treated immune hog. 

"The method of producing the serum is briefly as fol- 
lows : 

"A vigorous immune hog — that is, one which has re- 
covered from an attack of hog cholera or one which has 
been exposed to the disease without contracting it — is 
treated with a large quantity of blood from a hog sick 
of hog cholera. After a week or two blood is drawn 
from the immune by cutting off the end of the tail. 
After standing, the blood clot is removed and the serum 
or fluid portion of the blood is mixed with a weak solu- 
tion of carbolic acid and filled into sterilized bottles. 
We have in this fluid portion of the immune's blood the 
serum which will protect hogs from cholera. This serum 
is used in either one of two ways, namely, (1) the 
serum inoculation, and (2) the simultaneous inocula- 
tion. These two methods of treatment are carried out 
as follows : 

"Scrum inoculation. — The hogs which are to be pro- 



THE MOST COMMON DISEASES OF SWINE 547 

tccted are injected on the inside of the hind-leg with a 
suitable dose of the serum alone. This injection will 
serve to protect hogs from hog cholera for several 
■weeks and, in some cases, for a longer time. But if 
the hog is not exposed to hog cholera within a few 
weeks after this treatment, the immunity which is con- 
ferred by the serum will gradually lessen in degree and 
the hog may again become susceptible. If, however, 
the hog is exposed to cholera within a short time after 
the injection of the serum, the immunity becomes, so 
far as experiments have shown, of permanent and life- 
long duration. 

"The injection of the serum alone is especially to be 
recommended in cases where there is immediate danger 
of exposure, especially when valuable hogs are carried 
to fairs, and in herds where the disease has already 
broken out but has not progressed very far. In herbs 
of this character all of the well animals may be treated, 
and even in the case of slightly sick animals much good 
may be accomplished by the serum injection. 

"Simultaneous inoculation. — In this form of vaccina- 
tion the same serum is used as is employed when the 
serum alone is used, but in addition to the serum there 
is injected on the opposite side of the body, in the same 
manner as the serum, a very small amount of blood 
taken from a hog sick of cholera. This simultaneous 
injection of serum and virulent blood confers upon the 
injected pig a permanent and lasting immunity, and is 
therefore to be recommended in cases of well herds 
which may not be exposed for some months after the 
treatment. 



5+ 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



"Safety of the methods. — Properly prepared serum 
used alone, without the employment of blood from a 
sick hog, is harmless and incapable of giving rise to an 
attack of cholera. Nor does this injection interfere in 
any way with the growth of the treated hogs. 

"The simultaneous inoculation, involving as it does 
the use of a disease-producing virus, requires much 
more care when employed than does the serum-alone in- 
oculation, for, if from any cause the serum should be 
weaker than required, injury to the vaccinated hog 
might result. This danger is extremely slight when 
carefully tested serum is used. 

"In deciding which method to use one must be gov- 
erned largely by the length of immunity which is re- 
quired. If this is needed for only a few weeks, or if 
the treatment can be repeated at short intervals, as in 
the case of exceptionally valuable pure-bred hogs, where 
the increased cost would not be objected to, the serum 
alone may be used. In other cases the simultaneous 
method is recommended. In either process of vaccina- 
tion it is considered highly desirable for the treatment 
to be applied by competent veterinarians who have had 
special training in this class of work, and only such 
skilled men should employ the simultaneous process. 
After treatment by the simultaneous method the herd 
should be kept under observation for ten days or two 
weeks, and if any of the inoculated hogs show serious 
symptoms of disease the herd should be immediately 
re-treated with the serum alone. When properly per- 
formed, the simultaneous inoculation does not seem to 
injure the hog or interfere with its growth in any way, 



THE MOST COMMON DISEASES OF SWINE 549 

and if the precautions indicated are taken it is safe 
enough for practical use. 

"While in practice the serum may not always give as 
good results as have generally been obtained, there can 
be no doubt that if used properly and in the early period / 
of an outbreak of cholera it will effect a very large 
saving. 

"The Department of Agriculture has brought this 
method of preventing hog cholera to the attention of 
the various state experiment stations and live stock 
sanitary boards throughout the country, and has pro- 
posed to them that they prepare a serum for the benefit 
of hog raisers, as the preparation of serum by the 
Federal Government on a large enough scale to supply 
the needs of the entire country seemed to be imprac- 
ticable. As a result of this, a number of the states 
have taken up the work, and in practically all cases 
where a thorough test has been made they have con- 
firmed the results obtained by the department with 
this method. We therefore feel safe in saying that this 
process will prevent cholera, provided due care is given 
to the preparation of the serum and to its application. 

"The serum preparation is of such a nature that it 
should not be undertaken by farmers themselves, but 
should be under the control of trained men who have 
had experience in bacteriology and who are also 
thoroughly familiar with the diseases which affect hogs. 

"It should be remembered that this serum is to be 
used especially as a preventive, and that little success 
can be expected in herds which are badly affected with 
cholera. An early application is essential, and in the 



550 SWINE IN AMERICA 

.slates which have taken up this work the farmers should 
notify the proper authorities immediately upon their hogs 
becoming ill, so that they may be treated at once. 

"Inasmuch as the serum described is a comparatively 
new substance, it is not to be expected that success will 
always follow its use, but as it has been already 
definitely proved that hog cholera may be prevented 
with this serum, the failures, if they occur, will be 
caused by local conditions or variations in the details 
of serum production, which can be corrected. 

"The United States Department of Agriculture does 
not prepare anti-hog cholera serum for distribution. 
Those who wish to obtain it should apply to their re- 
spective state veterinarians or agricultural colleges." 

BURNING CHOLERA CARCASSES 

Burning is the preferable method of disposing of in- 
fected carcasses. The wood should not be piled over the 
carcass, as this impedes circulation of the air. Start a 
good fire and place on it one carcass at a time until all 
have been destroyed. 

TUBERCULOSIS 

Because of its insidious nature, tuberculosis is more 
to be dreaded than cholera. The rapid manner in 
which a hog will lay on fat seems to enable him suc- 
cessfully to resist the destructive nature of the disease 
until he can be sent to the packer. At times, however, 
the symptoms of tuberculosis may be observed through 
a noticeable enlargement of parts of the body, particu- 
larly the glands of the neck, accompanied with diarrhea 



THE MOST COMMON DISEASES OF SWINE 55 1 

and swelling of the joints. -An affected animal will 
sometimes show loss of flesh, and in this case the dis- 
ease has usually reached the stage which means the 
death of the hog in a comparatively short time, usually 
in a few weeks. 

The United States Bureau of Animal Industry estimat- 
ed in 1906 (Bulletin No. 38) that the approximate 
number of carcasses of hogs condemned annually by 
Federal meat inspectors because of tuberculosis totals 
65,000, valued at $780,000, and in addition to these 
there were, in 1905, 142,105 parts of hog carcasses 
condemned for the same cause. This total of $780,000 
is nearly double the amount representing the value of 
beef carcasses annually condemned because of tuber- 
culosis, and the value is steadily on the increase. 

The main source of contagion is from the skimmed 
milk and droppings of dairy cows, and tuberculosis in 
swine is most prevalent in the dairy sections. Scientists 
generally agree that the tuberculosis of hogs and other 
mammals may be communicated to human beings, and 
that tuberculosis of human beings is communicable t" 
swine, dogs and cats, although not generally communi- 
cable to cattle. 

Tuberculosis is due to a microbe which multiplies only 
inside the animal body and produces tuberculosis among 
all domestic animals and a great many wild animals. A 
full description of the manner of infection through the 
tubercular bacillus is given in ''Tuberculosis of the Food 
Producing Animals," prepared by Salmon as Bulletin 
No. 38 of the Bureau of Animal Industry, United States 
Department of Agriculture. 



55-^ SWINE IN AMERICA 

Up to within a recent time, knowledge of tuberculosis 
as affecting swine has been quite limited, as most observa- 
tions of the disease in animals had been in connection 
with cattle. Its spread among hogs, has, however, been 
so rapid that increased attention has of late been given 
to its dangerous character and to measures of pre- 
vention. In states, as in Wisconsin, where the pasteuriza- 
tion of skimmed milk used for feeding is required, a very 
extensive source of contagion is thereby removed. Pack- 
ers have in some instances been compelled to protect 
themselves by refusing to purchase hogs from a noto- 
riously infected district. In many cases, however, this 
method is regarded as drastic, and, as Doctor Salmon 
has said, "There are probabl but a small proportion of 
the shippers of tubercular hogs who know that they 
have this disease in their herds, and the evidence of the 
fact which is discovered in the abbattoirs is never 
brought to their attention." 

It seems probable that the combined efforts of federal 
and state authorities, the packers and the hog raisers, 
are essential to the control of this disease in swine, and 
that its eradication must be conducted co-ordinately with 
a similar movement for eradicating it from cattle. A 
first essential to this is a realization by the owmers of 
hogs or cattle of the great danger attending the dis- 
ease. Assuredly, no one who stops to consider that he 
may he planting the seeds of consumption in members of 
his own family would hesitate to assist in taking decisive 
measures ! When this possibility is realized generally, 
and is brought home, the solution of the problem will 
be much nearer at hand. Even i i" \< >< iked at from a purely 



THE MOST COMMON DISEASES OF SWINE 553 

monetary point of view the eradication of the disease 
would, in itself, within a very few years, make good the 
expense incurred, through the saving- of animals that 
would otherwise he condemned. 

The number of herds in which tuberculosis exists is 
small as compared with the number of animals affected. 
This fact in one way makes the eradication problem 
easier; but in another it is thereby the more difficult, since 
farmers generally do not realize that the dangers from 
tuberculosis are much greater than those from cholera, 
which leaves ravages so boldly apparent to the eye and 
the pocketbook. Dr. Burton Rogers of the Kansas experi- 
ment station is satisfied, as a result of investigations made 
at different times, that less than six per cent of the hog- 
raisers of the country send to market animals affected 
with tuberculosis. He found, in tagging 3,430 hogs, 
brought to market in 626 different wagons, that only 39 
farmers had brought in hogs that were affected. This 
was in a district where tuberculosis was supposed to be 
especially prevalent. Dr. Rogers believes that the only 
solution of the animal tuberculosis problem is for the 
94 per cent of the farmers who do not have tuberculosis 
in their herds to insist upon the stamping out of the dis- 
ease by the six per cent who own affected herds. 

The Bureau of Animal Industry (Bulletin No. 88) 
says: "The feces of cattle that swallow tubercle bacilli 
are highly infectious for hogs that are exposed to them. 
The feces of tuberculous cattle very probably contain 
numerous tubercle bacilli that reach the intestines through 
swallowing or otherwise. . . . We judge from ex- 
periments made in which hogs were fed large quantities 



554 SWINE IN AMERICA 

of such milk that of the two methods — the exposure of 
hogs to the feces or to the milk of tuberculous cattle — the 
former has by far the greater damage, entirely apart 
from the fact that exposure to the feces in the manner 
in which it occurs is never a simple exposure to one thing, 
but a general exposure to all the infectious material that 
may pass from cattle, irrespective of whether they are 
milk-producing animals or not. . . . It is a question 
whether the tuberculosis that occurs among hogs as- 
sociated with dairy establishments is not more directly 
traceable to the feces of tuberculous cows than to skim 
milk. 

"No farmer and no dairyman who is acquainted with 
the value of the undigested grain or other nutriment in 
cattle feces as a food for hogs, fails to feed as much of 
it as lie possibly can. . . . The system in practice in 
many portions of the country of turning a herd of hogs 
behind a herd of cattle that are being fattened for market 
may be accountable for tuberculosis among hogs if the 
disease exists among the cattle. Hogs associated in this 
way with cattle may be protected effectually from tuber- 
culosis by applying the tuberculin test to the cattle and 
removing every animal from the herd that shows a reac- 
tion indicative of the presence of tuberculosis. And it 
is strongly recommended that in regions where tuber- 
culosis among hogs has been discovered, the cattle with 
which they are associated be first of all tested, and re- 
acting animals segregated or disposed of in a way that 
will insure against further harm from them. 

"The feces of tuberculous cattle are a menace to hogs 
even when not deliberated fed to them. Very few es- 



THE MOST COMMON DISEASES OF SWINE 555 

tablishments that keep both hogs and cattle make pro- 
visions effectually to prevent the access of the former 
to the manure heap on which the droppings of the latter 
are thrown. No fanner or stockman intentionally prac- 
tices a system of feeding that is lacking in economy, and 
to know the benefits that are derived by hogs from the 
manure heap of stables containing heavily grain-fed dairy 
or beef cattle immediately causes its location in the hog 
yard. This practice is not harmful when the cattle are 
healthy, but when they are affected with tuberculosis, it 
means, in the light of the evidence we now have, an al- 
most certain transference of the disease to the hogs." 

The tuberculin test used upon cattle is practicable for 
hogs, and its results fully as reliable, if the hogs are kept 
quiet throughout the test and for some time before. This 
was demonstrated by the Bureau of Animal Industry 
(Bulletin No. 88). As keeping hogs quiet is ordina- 
rily quite difficult, and yet essential, the application of 
the test to swine is a more uncertain undertaking than 
it is^with cattle. 

SOME INTESTINAL. AND OTHER WORMS 

The hog is host for a variety of intestinal worms. 
It is doubtful if more than a small percentage of swine 
growers realize the extent to which hogs are, ordinarily, 
infested with worms, or the menace these parasites are 
to the health, thrift and lives of their animals. One 
intelligent observer ventures to express the belief that 
half the ills or diseases which afflict swine are traceable, 
directly or indirectly, to worms. A hog afflicted with 



--(, SWINP: IN AMERICA 

worms cannot grow or thrive to best advantage, be- 
cause of being in an abnormal condition, and in such a 
condition must, further, be more susceptible to attacks 
of disease. Among the worms more common to the 
hog are the Pin worm, Long Thread worm. Round 
worm (most common). Thorn-headed worm, and the 
Kidney worm ; also one called Strongylus dentatus, which 
lives in the intestines, and Strongylus clou go fits, which 
lives in the lungs and air passages, and others of less im- 
portance. Dr. D. Mcintosh, of the University of Il- 
linois, in his work entitled "Diseases of Swine" treats of 
these worms comprehensively thus: 

PIN WORMS 

"The seat of these worms is the rectum, but they are 
sometimes found in the colon, and have been seen in 
the stomach ; on this account they have been called the 
maw-worm. They are usually about Yi inch long and 
white in color; they multiply very rapidly; their Cggs 
are very small, and are often deposited on the grass, 
and may be washed into the streams or ponds of water 
and in this way enter the stomach and bowels. They 
are found in all the higher animals. They usually cause 
itching at the root of the tail, or by reflex action cause 
derangement of other parts of the body. Though pro- 
ductive of great annoyance and even suffering, they do 
not usually injure the health of the animal. 

"Clean out the rectum by injections of warm water. 
Tnfuse two ounces of quassia chips in one pint of boil- 
ing water, and when cool, inject ft into the rectum; re- 



THE MOST COMMON DISEASES OF SWINE 557 

peat in a week if necessary. A brisk purge will often 
wash out a number of them. 

LONG THREAD WORM 

"This is found most frequently in some part of the 
colon and cecum, but sometimes in the small intestines, 
either loose or with its anterior capillary portion inserted 
into the mucous membrane. It is often observed in great 
numbers in animals that have died from some acute 
disease. I have found numbers of these worms par- 
tially buried in the mucous membrane, but they did not 
seem to have caused much disturbance. They are about 
y> inch to 1^ inches long, about as thick as a com- 
mon thread, and are very active in their motion. From 
experiments that have been made, it appears that the 
ova are never developed in the animal body, but being 
discharged with the feces, retain their vitality for a 
long time, and if placed in water, become at the end of 
about eight and a half months developed into embryos, 
about 1-300 of an inch in length. It is probable 
that these are carried by the rain and other means 
into streams, wells, etc., whence the drinking water 
is derived, and thus they become fully developed. 
There are no particular symptoms by which we can de- 
tect this worm from others during the life of the animal, 
and the treatment would be the same as for the Thorn- 
headed worm. Very often when worm medicine is given, 
a variety of worms will be discharged at the same time. 

ROUND WORM 

"A round, smooth worm of considerable size ; the 
male usually reaches, when fully developed, six inches, 



558 SWINE IN AMERICA 



and the female may be twice that length. This worm 
usually does no harm when there are only a few present 
The animal will likely keep in good health, but when 
they are numerous, they will disturb digestion and cause 
colicky pains, loss of flesh, dry hair, morbid appetite, 
restlessness and nervous twitching, and in some cases, 
fits. Cases are recorded in which they worked through 
the walls of the intestines and, reaching some of the 
other organs of the body, caused death This worm 
generally inhabits the small intestine, but not infrequently 
finds its way forward to the stomach, or backwards to 
the rectum, and sometimes escapes from the intestine 
through the anus. This worm has also been found in the 
biliary duct, gall bladder, and the substance of the liver. 
There have been a number of experiments made to find 
the origin of this worm, and it is found that its eggs 
are passed from the bowel. They retain their vitality 
for a long time; they appear never to be developed in 
the bowels, but when discharged and kept in water they 
begin to show signs of life, and in about seven months 
contain embryo worms I- 120 of an inch in length. These 
have not been seen to break shell, but the ova, carried into 
streams, ponds, and wells, sometimes probably find an 
entrance into the stomach with the drinking water, when 
the embryo escapes from its shell and completes its 
growth in the intestine. 

"The best remedy for this worm is the fluid extract 
of spigelia and senna, given in ^-ounce doses every 
four hours until it causes purging. Wormseed oil (che- 
nopodium). in doses of from five to ten drops, given in 
a tablespoon ful of castor oil, is also good. Turpentine 



m 



THE MOST COMMON DISEASES OF SWINE CCg 

in doses of from 15 to 20 drops, three times a day, fol- 
lowed by castor oil or epsom salts, is useful. The cedar 
apple, an excrescence found on the red cedar, has been 
used with good results, in doses of from 20 to 25 grains 
of the powder, repeated three times a day, followed by a 
physic. 



THE ROUND WORM 

THORN-HEADED WORM 

"This is quite frequently found in the intestines of 
pigs ; it is easily known by the peculiar proboscis, which 
bears several circles of small but sharp hooks. They 
locate usually in the small intestines of the pig, where 
they fasten themselves by means of the spiny proboscis 
mentioned above, this being pushed into the lining mem- 
brane of the intestine. In some cases they bore through 
this and migrate to other parts of the body, where their 
presence causes great disturbance. The eggs of this 
worm pass from the hog and are eaten by the grubs of 
certain large beetles ; in the stomach of these grubs the 
eggs develop into embryos, or, rather the embryos al- 
ready developed are set free and bore through the in- 
testine and locate themselves in the body of the grub. 
Here they become encysted and remain dormant until 
the grub is eaten by the pig, and then once in the stomach 
or intestine of this animal it develops into a worm at 
once. The color of this worm is white or bluish white, 
the female being from 5 to 20 inches in length, while the 
male is from 3 to 5 inches long. The female is very 



560 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



prolific, producing immense numbers of eggs, which are 
of a somewhat oblong-oval shape. 

"Pigs may have a number of these worms without 
their causing any noticeable derangement; on the other 
hand, they often derange the digestion and assimilation, 
causing loss of flesh and a general unhealthy appearance. 
The animal is usually hungry and may eat large quan- 
tities of food and yet remain thin. When a pig has 
such symptoms, with the absence of any .other ailment, 
we may suspect that worms are the cause. In very bad 
cases the pig becomes weak in the loins and the mem- 
brane in the corners of the eyes swollen, red and watery; 
the animal suffers pain, which is indicated by it contin- 
ually grunting or squealing; such hogs are usually bad 
tempered and will bite and snarl at the other pigs. In 
some cases the weakness increases and the animal is un- 
able to stand, and soon dies. 

"This worm is easily removed by medicine. Give 
one-half ounce of the fluid extract of spigelia and senna 
at a dose every four hours until purging takes place, or 
30 grains of koosin as a pill ; one dose of this is usually 
sufficient. Another good remedy is to beat up two ounces 
of pumpkin seeds into a pulp with sugar and give at one 
dose ; this should be followed in four hours with a brisk 
physic — castor oil or epsom salts. Santonine is also 
useful in from three to five-grain doses made into a pill. 
Chenopodie oleum (wormseed oil), in from 20 to 30 
drops may be given in a little syrup, followed in two 
hours by a purge. These medicines should be given on 
an empty stomach. If the animal has become very 
weak the strength should be kept up by stimulants, such 



THE MOST COMMON DISEASES OF SWINE 56] 

as small doses of whisky and cod-liver oil, or whisky and 
eggs; and if there is fever, two to four grains of quinine 
should be given at a dose three times a day. 

KIDNEY WORM 

"This is found in the kidneys of all the domestic ani- 
mals and in man, although it is rare. It is a large worm, 
and it is said that sometimes the female becomes 3 feet 
long- and Vz inch in diameter, although usually much 




THE KIDNEY WORM 

less. The male becomes 10 to 12 inches long. They 
are usually only a few inches long. The body is smooth, 
round and tapering somewhat to each end, and of a deep 
red color. When such worms are present in the kidneys 
they gradually, but completely, destroy the substance of 
the kidney, which becomes filled with purulent matter, 
upon which the worm feeds, while the walls often be- 
come hardened with calcareous deposits. The effects 
and symptoms are the same as in other acute diseases or 
abscesses in one of the kidneys. The only positive proof 
of the presence of the worms would be the discovery 
of the eggs in the urine. It is probable that no remedy 
can be applied when the parasite is once lodged in the 
kidney. The history of this worm is not fully known. 
(Verill.) 



562 SWINE IN AMERICA 

"I have found live worms in the kidneys of both the 
pig- and dog, and the kidneys were perfectly health)', 
and neither animal seemed to be in any way affected by 
them. The loss of power of the hind parts of pigs, 
which has been attributed to kidney worms, is not due 
to a parasite, but to paralysis of the muscles of the hind 
parts. I have made careful investigations of such cases, 
but failed to find any worms or any disease of the kid- 
neys. Paralysis of the hind parts would not be the symp- 
tom of kidney disease. 




THE STRONGYLUS DENTATUS 

STRONGYLUS DENTATUS 

"This worm is found in the intestines of swine. It is 
a slender, filiform worm about /^ inch long; the head 
is obtuse and surrounded by six acute papillae; the 
esophagus is short, thick and muscular ; in the male the 
tail is truncated and provided with an oblique bursa; in 
the female it is elongated and slender, ending in a fine 
point; the genital opening is near the posterior end. The 
history of this worm is not known. It does not seem to 
do much harm. The usual treatment for worms is nearly 
always effectual in bringing them away. I have seen 
quite a number of them mixed with other worms in the 
feces of a hog that had been treated for worms. 



THE MOST COMMON DISEASES OF SWINE 563 

STRONGYLUS ELONGATUS 

"This species lives in the lungs and air passages. It 
is about I to i l /2 inches long. They often occur singly 
or several together. When they are numerous they set 
up great disturbance, often resulting in the death of the 
host. The first symptom of the disease is a cough, us- 
ually slight at first, but soon becoming very distressing, 
and the pig shows signs of suffocation, which sometimes 
takes place, or inflammation may set in and carry the 
animal off. This disease is often taken for catarrh or 
some other respiratory trouble, and it is very difficult to 
diagnose unless a worm which has been coughed up may 
be seen protruding from the nose. 

"Treatment is not easy. Small quantities of turpen- 
tine injected into the nostrils may reach the worms. Tur- 
pentine given in teaspoonful doses three times daily will 
sometimes be of use, as the turpentine is partly eliminated 
by the lungs. Inhaling the fumes of carbolic acid is also 
useful. 

Sl'IROPTERA STRONGYLINE 

"There are a number of small, whitish or reddish 
round worms which taper somewhat toward the an- 
terior end, or toward both ends. The head is small, with 
small papillae or naked ; the male grows to about Vi inch 
long o- more; the female 1-3 inch or more; it lives in 
the stomach of the pig, but generally does not produce 
any serious disease. The fluid extract of spigelia and 
senna in ^2 ounce doses, given every four hours until 
purging ensues, usually dislodges them. 



564 SWINE IN AMERICA 

SCLEROSTOTUM DENTATUM 

''This is a small worm living in the intestines of 
swine. The male is about 1-3 inch long; the female ^2 
inch long; the body is of a dark color and the surface is 
finely marked with transverse striae. It is quite slender 
and tapering at each end, but the male has near the tail 
a three-lobed expansion. The eggs are laid in the in- 
testine, from which they pass out into the open air and 
are soon hatched. The mouth of this worm is circular 
and armed with six teeth, by means of which it attaches 
itself to the intestine and pierces the tissue, feeding upon 
the blood. If there are many of them they create such a 
drain on the system of their host as to weaken and possi- 
bly destroy it. It may also by its irritation of the bowels 
cause serious trouble and disease. An active purge is 
the best remedy for the removal of this worm." 

MEASLES AND TRICHINA 

By Dr. C. J. Sihler, formerly of the United 
Stales Bureau of Animal Industry. — The illustrations 
give some idea of the appearance of two muscle 
parasites which are easily communicated to man 
by the consumption of the uncooked flesh of infested 
animals. They are the muscle or cysticercus and the 
Trichina spiralis. Measles in the pig is the cystic form 
of tapeworm (Taenia solium) in man. From the ear- 
liest ages its existence in the pig was known; but only 
after years of experiment, and not until about the year 
1845. was tne true nature of this parasite, and its iden- 
tity with the tapeworm in man, established. There are, 



THE MOST COMMUiN DISEASES OF SWINE 



5'>5 



however, three distinct species of tapeworm which infest 
man, derived from the pig, ox and fish, but the measle 
in the pig is the most common. Measles in swine have 
no resemblance nor any relation to the disease by that 
name which afflicts the human. 

Infection from this source is much more rare than 
formerly, since we have become better acquainted with 




MEASLES OR TAPEWORM IN SWINE 



the. nature of the parasite, and the inspection of meat 
and the improved methods of raising pigs have lessened 
the liability. 

The above figure shows the cyst as it appears when 
taken from the muscular tissue ; also the head of the par- 
asite and one of the hooks, the last two being highly 
magnified. 

At the left is the cyst or sack containing the parasite 
and is filled with a clear fluid. In size it varies from a 
very small to a large pea, and is found in greater or less 
numbers in the muscles. In the center is the cyst with 



5 66 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



walls removed, and showing the embryo and manner in 
which it is deported. At the right is the head of the 
parasite, showing the rostellum or hooks with which it 
attaches itself to the inner coat of the intestine; also, the 
four sucker discs which serve the same purpose. And 
below is shown one of the hooks very highly magnified. 





ADULT OF THE SWINE TAPEWORM 



Herewith are shown parts of the adult worm. The 
left sketch shows head and neck of the worm as it de- 
velops after finding a lodging place in the intestine; the 
center shows segments still more developed but not yet 
mature ; while at the right we observe a fully developed 
section. Let it be clearly understood that the tapeworm, 
no matter what its species, does not live and grow by 
sustenance obtained through the head, but by absorption 
through its body walls. Each of the segments as shown 
in the figure is complete in itself, containing male and 
female sexual organs, and is capable of producing from 
3000 to 6000 eggs. In the single mature section shown, 
the genital pore is easily observed. This parasite can 



THE MOST CUM MUX DISEASES OF SWINE 



$7 



be easily detected in the flesh of an infested hog by an 
observing- person. The red meat is much paler and softer 
than that of healthy meat. When cut it presents a watery 
appearance, caused by the knife dividing the numerous 
cysts containing the fluid heretofore spoken of. This 
much as to how the human family becomes infested with 
this parasite. As to how to get rid of it, I will refer 
you to my eminent brothers of the medical profession, 
who can give you much information on this subject 
which does not properly belong to a paper of this nature. 




THE TRICHINA WORM 

In the figure above is shown the trichina, an entirely 
different parasite, which humanity derives almost solely 
from the pig. This parasite is one with which the pub- 
lic is but little acquainted, but is the one which caused 
several of the European countries to place an embargo on 
the import of the products of the American hog. To 
overcome this embargo, only meat which has been mi- 
croscopically examined is sent to the objecting countries. 
In this figure is seen the mature worm and also those in 



5 b8 



SW [NE IX AMERICA 



a larval stale. At the left the mature male worm is 
shown, and in the center the female. The male is the 
smaller of the two, and is easily distinguished from the 
female. They reproduee themselves within a few days 
after lodgment in the intestines and in great numbers, 
one female yielding from 5,000 to 15,000 living young. 
The young, which' can be seen in the figure in the act of 
emission, begin their migration soon after birth and 
reach the voluntary muscles in a manner yet somewhat 
in doubt, after which they become encysted, as shown 
at the right. They remain in this state until they are 
again taken into the stomach, where they are liberated 
by the gastric juice and again reproduce themselves. 
These parasites are only visible under the microscope, 
and for this reason their presence in the system may 
escape the notice of the ordinary practitioner. 

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 

If the embryo tapeworm is taken into the human 
stomach, does it remain there in a different state, or docs 
it pass into a different part? Answer. When the measle 
in its cystic form is taken into the stomach, the gastric. 
juice dissolves the cyst, liberating the embryo. It then 
passes into the intestines, where it affixes itself and de- 
velops into a mature worm. 

Mow does the pig get the measles? Answer. By 
eating the mature segments or eggs which are discharged 
with the excrement by persons having Taenia solium, the 
ordinary tapeworm. 



THE MOST COMMON DISEASES OF SWIM'. 569 

Is this disease called measles frequently found in the 
hog? Answer. Only occasionally in this country, but 
it is quite common in some of the European countries. 

Is the full-grown worm found in the intestines of 'the 
pig? Answer. Only the cystic form is found in the 
pig. The adult is only found in man. 

Do pigs have any species of the adult tapeworm ? 
Answer. No, but they harbor a great many other in- 
testinal parasites. 

How can one who is not an expert detect the presence 
of trichina in the flesh of the pig? Answer. Without 
the aid of a microscope it is impossible. 

Does ordinary cooking destroy the liability to be- 
come infested with trichina? Answer. Yes. The 
danger lies in eating imperfectly cooked meat. In some 
of the European countries the flesh of the pig is eaten 
raw, or nearly so, which accounts for the greater prev- 
alence of the disease there than in this country. 

How long after eating the infested meat before trichi- 
nosis develops in man? Answer. From eight to 12 
days. 

Do not smoking and salting destroy the worms? An- 
swer. They may have some influence on those on the 
surface of ordinarily cured meat, but the worms in 
the middle are found to be alive and active. 

MANGE 

Mange is a parasitic disease, but not difficult to cure, 
and seldom causes death. It is caused by a parasite 
which burrows under the scarf skin, producing consider- 
able irritation, destroying it so that scabs form, and on 



5/0 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



account of the great itchiness on the part the animal rubs 
it, causing the part to become a rough sore. It is con- 
tagious from one pig to another; it generally appears 
first on the thin parts of the skin under the arm, behind 
the ear, inside of the thighs and upon the back. In the 
early stage it resembles eczema, but if the eyesight is 
good and assisted by the bright sunlight, the parasites 
may be seen as a moving white speck ; they can be 
readily seen by using a small magnifying glass. 

Doctor Mcintosh says : "This disease is transmitted 
by contagion; that is, the parasites themselves or their 
eg-gs must get on the skin in order to produce the dis- 
ease. All unaffected pigs should be removed from the 
premises where the diseased ones are or have been, and 
the woodwork of the sties washed with a strong solution 
of carbolic acid. Wash the pigs all over with soft soap 
and water, then rub in well dry sulphur. When the sul- 
phur comes in contact with secretions from the sores, it 
forms a compound poisonous to the parasites. In a day 
or two give the animal another washing, and rub on some 
more sulphur. A very sure remedy is to boil for one hour 
two ounces of stavesacre seeds in i l /> quarts of water, 
and keep it nearly boiling for an hour longer; make up 
the water to the quantity originally used. Such a so- 
lution, rubbed into the skin, not only kills the parasite, 
but its eggs also. Repeat in a week if necessary. An- 
other is to steep one part of tobacco in 20 parts of boil- 
ing water for a few hours, and. after washing the pig, 
apply a little of this to the affected parts with a sponge. 
If the surface to be covered is large, only apply it to 
one part today and to the other tomorrow. For instance, 



THE MOST COMMON DISEASES OF SWINE S7 l 

if the neck and the legs are affected, apply to the neck 
first, then to the other parts the day following, and there 
will be no bad results from the use of the tobacco, and it 
is an excellent remedy when carefully used." 

Some very excellent advice along this line, the out- 
growth of practical experience, is written out by James 
Atkinson, thus : "Mange, or scurviness (the latter being 
simply the resulting product of the mange organism) is 
an enemy of thrift and growth, and one of the best and 
most up-to-date ways that we know to waste feed is to 
shovel it into a bunch of mangy or scurvy hogs. As a 
rule, they spend half their time scratching and the rest of 
the time thinking about it. 

"It is one ailment, however, for which there is an 
absolute specific, and that is a good coal tar dip. If we 
had a bunch of mangy hogs on hand and did not have 
access to a dipping tank we would order a spray pump — 
one that could be used for spraying the orchards after- 
ward, if necessary. Round the pigs into a shed, mix 
up the dip according to directions and turn the pump 
loose. This will literally saturate the hogs as well as 
their bedding. If it is at all cold keep them in the shed 
for a few hours after they are sprayed. The idea is 
simply to keep the hogs out of a draft for fear they 
will catch cold. If they are kept together they will soon 
warm up after the application of the cold dip, and when 
they are dry they can be turned out without risk. Of 
course, if enough dip is used to thoroughly saturate 
their bedding the shed should afterward be cleaned and 
fresh bedding put in. 



'572 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



"It may require the second application of dip to abso- 
lutely free them of scurf, though one good one with a 
dip used a little strong will generally do the work. Some 
of the dip companies sell at a reasonable price a small 
compressed air pump, which is exceedingly handy, and 
one should be found on every farm. A man can throw 
one of these over his shoulder and pass through a bunch 
of hogs or into the hog or poultry quarters and disinfect 
every crevice. On a big bunch of hogs it would not be 
a difficult matter to save the price of a good spraying 
outfit and a five-gallon can of dip in the value of the 
feed in a single week. A good dip comes nearer per- 
forming miracles on the skin of an unhealthy hog than 
anything else that we are familiar with. Five or ten 
dollars' worth of good dip is the best investment that the 
average swine breeder can make, because these dips have 
powerful disinfecting qualities without being skin irri- 
tants." 

SCOURS 

Various homely farm remedies are utilized for scours 
in pigs, among them being black walnut bark soaked in 
the swill barrel ten or 15 hours, or tea from white oak 
bark, made strong and given to the sows (a pint of it, 
more or less) once or twice a day in their slop. Sulphur 
mixed in the slop is often recommended, in doses of a 
tablespoon ful each day for three or four days to each 
sow. It may be necessary to repeat this treatment after 
three or four days. The sows should be kept in dry 
quarters. 






THE MOST COMMON DISEASES OF SWINE 573 

L. N. Bonham says: "We look upon scours as evi- 
dence of indigestion or cold. Whenever we find any de- 
rangement of this kind we at once try to find the cause. 
It may be that the sow has been overfed or her slop has 
been changed, or she has found some impure or un- 
wholesome feed the effect of which is seen in the pigs. 
We have known litters to be put (Hit of fix by giving a 
sow a feed of very sour buttermilk or stale milk. We 
know a case where the pigs were made sick from the sow 
getting out of a clean pen and grass lot into a filthy barn- 
yard and coming back to her pigs covered with the filth 
of a wallow. We have known the disorder to follow a 
change of pen, causing the pigs to take cold. A wet bed 
or pen is a most prolific source of scours. Pigs that 
have dry, clean beds and pens may be put out of condi- 
tion by one run in wet grass or clover, or going with 
the sow into wet places where they are chilled, or where 
the sow gets rank roots or coarse growth that she is not 
accustomed to. Sudden changes of weather, or from 
sound to unsound feed, sweet to sour feed, or even a 
single overfeed, are common causes of the disorder. 

"After the pigs are four to five weeks old and have 
learned to eat with the sow, they are not so quickly in- 
fluenced by the condition of the sow. If one can feed 
a sow so regularly as to secure her against the accidents 
of weather and neglect of attendants he can hope to 
avoid disorders of bowels in the young pigs. If de- 
rangement arises from improper feeding it must be cured 
by correcting the condition of the sow by change of feed. 
Usually the condition of the sow will come right by care 
to have her food sound and given regularly in moderate 



574 SWINE IN AMERICA 

quantity. Parched corn and scalded milk for one or 
two feeds will usually correct the trouble arising from 
indigestion or wrong feed. If the trouble comes from 
damp beds the cause must be removed. The antidote is 
dry quarters. Keep them clean and dry. Let in the 
sunshine. Cover the droppings with fresh earth or dry 
soil, and clean the pens often. 

"Cleanliness, sunshine and sound, wholesome feed 
given judiciously will usually correct such bowel derange- 
ments better than drugs. Charcoal is a corrective. Too 
many go to the opposite extreme and change looseness to 
constipation, which is only a change from one bad con- 
dition to another. The trouble is hard to manage in 
cloudy, rainy weather, especially where the shelter is 
poor and the lots are muddy and uncomfortable." 

One good authority says : "To each pig two or three 
weeks old give a teaspoon ful each of castor oil and 
glycerin at a dose. After the physic operates, if the 
scours still continue, give rive drops each of tincture of 
opium and spirits of camphor in a dessertspoonful of 
water at a dose every four hours until cured. Be careful 
about feeding too rich food to the sows, or feeding- 
soured swill or slop. Keep the pens clean and dry, and see 
that sows and pigs get plenty of fresh air and sunshine, 
plenty of exercise and plenty of good, fresh water." 

A. J. Lovejoy says a never-failing remedy for white 
scours in young pigs is to reduce the richness of the sow's 
feed and give her in slop twice a day a tablespoonful of 
sulphur for two days. 



THE .MOST COMMON DISEASES OF SWINE 575 

CONSTIPATION 

This occurs most frequently in winter. It may be re- 
lieved with salts or bran mashes containing sulphur. 
Warm soapsuds used as an injection is useful, and soft 
soap given in the feed will often afford relief. Such 
foods as pumpkins, apples or roots are very helpful as 
correctives, and usually will be sufficient to bring about 
a normal condition. 

DEATHS FROM EATING COCKLEBURS 

Every year there are reports of losses of swine 
"poisoned" by eating cockleburs or cocklebur plants. 
These reports almost invariably describe the losses as 
occurring at times when the hogs have access to ground 
where young cocklebur plants have made a growth of but 
2 or 3 inches. The hogs eat these plants and root up and 
eat some of the burs from which they are growing, with 
sometimes, but not always, fatal results. It appears 
that such slight investigations as have been made, so far, 
have not definitely demonstrated whether the hogs are 
poisoned by some property in the young plant, or in the 
meat of the bur, or whether it is taking the bur, or rather 
its rough and irritating hull, into the stomach, that does 
the harm. The exact nature of the ailment, or its cure, 
are not known ; hence immunity is only assured by keep- 
ing swine off ground infested with cockleburs. In send- 
ing up its shoot the hull or outer, rough coating of the 
bur is carried on top of the young plant, and in graz- 
ing on the plants, swine are liable to swallow the coat- 
ings, some of which may find lodgment in the throat. 



576 SWINE IN AMERICA 

It is said that an investigation made by a veterinarian 
at the Indiana experiment station convinced him that 
lodging of the hulls in the throat or stomach, with re- 
sultant irritation, choking', ulceration and perhaps blood 
poisoning is what does the mischief. Pigs fed the plants 
divested of bur hulls showed no ill effects. 

CANKER SORE MOUTH IN YOUNG PIGS 

Large water blisters appear about the mouth and 
snout, rapidly succeeded by much heat and swelling of 
the parts, and later thick brown scabs appear which open 
into deep cracks. These scabs extend over the face, 
head, and even to the body and limbs, the joints of the 
latter becoming much swollen and inflamed. Ulcers 
often form about the snout and jaws, eating the flesh 
from the bone. There is dullness and a disinclination to 
move, and often to suck the young pigs. The treat- 
ment, which should be prompt and thorough, is a solu- 
tion of permanganate of potash, using one ounce of the 
crystals dissolved in a gallon of water in a common pail. 
In extreme cases, use two ounces to a gallon of water. 
The young pigs should be dipped head foremost into the 
solution and kept there for a brief time. Repeat this 
two or three times, giving the pig time to catch its 
breath in the intermissions. This treatment continued 
for three or four days will usually effect a cure, if the 
disease is not of too long standing. Having successive 
litters of pigs farrowed in the same pen should be 
avoided where this disease has been prevalent, until the 
pen has been thoroughly disinfected. 



THE MOST COMMON DISEASES OF SWINE 577 

A correspondent of Hoard's Dairyman gives the fol- 
lowing experience: "I had 25 good pigs affected with 
canker sore month and nose ; one litter had scabs ex- 
tending over most of the head and some of these had 
scabs on their ears. I used an ounce of permanganate of 
potash dissolved in i}i gallons of water, and I thor- 
oughly dipped the head of each pig about twice, a few 
seconds each time, just so as to cover the affected por- 
tion. I used an ordinary 20-pound lard bucket. Later 
I put the dipped pigs in a small pen to dry for an hour. 
I then greased the affected parts with the ordinary veteri- 
nary vaseline and carbolic acid made into a salve by 
melting. Three applications completely cured my pigs 
without any loss or injury. I consider the malady very 
easily cured if treated in time. If you are a close ob- 
server you will notice that in the beginning the part just 
back of the nose commences to wrinkle. Then is the 
time to apply the remedy, and two applications will cure. 
It is inexpensive and easily applied. The permanganate 
of potash destroys the parasite, and the vaseline and car- 
bolic acid heal the sores." 

BLACK TEETH 

A ereat deal has been said and written on this sub- 
ject, but the majority of the veterinary profession now 
consider black teeth as nothing serious. Doctor Mcintosh 
has studied black teeth, and never been able to connect 
them with any of the diseases affecting pigs, and in the 
majority of cases it seems to him they do no harm. 
"I have no doubt, however, that pigs suffer as well 



578 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



as other animals from toothache, but I have never seen 
any cases where I could detect it. I am not able to 
account for the cause of black teeth unless it be natural 
for some hogs to have them. If it should be discovered 
that a hog has a decayed tooth and is apparently suffer- 
ing from it, by all means have it removed, which can 
easily be done with a pair of wolf teeth forceps. I can 
advise swine breeders not to trouble themselves if they 
should notice some of their pigs having discolored teeth." 

THUMPS 

For thumps this has been recommended : "Drive the 
pigs out of their beds into the sunshine, and see that 
they take exercise every day. Decrease the sow's milk- 
producing food till the pigs are older. Be sure they 
have a clean bed and plenty of exercise and they will not 
be troubled with thumps or sore tails. Thumps in larger 
pigs is sometimes caused from an affection of the lungs, 
but never in a pig three weeks old. Early pigs are more 
apt to have thumps than later ones, as in cold weather 
they stay close to the nest." Doctor Mcintosh says 
thumps is palpitation of the heart and its most frequent 
cause is a morbid condition of the system from feeding 
too much corn or food deficient in nitrogen. 

QUINSY 

This is characterized by sore throat and the appear- 
ance of a swelling on the sides of the neck at the angle 
of the lower jaw and sometimes extending between the 
wings of the jaw. When the swelling is large it presses 



THE MOST COMMON DISEASES OF SWINE $/<J 

on the upper part of the windpipe, causing difficult 
breathing, and in some eases suffocation. It is a local 
disease common to the pig and usually yields to treat- 
ment. Give the pig all the cold water it will drink. 
Put one-half dram of chloride of ammonia in one-half 
pint of water, and if the animal is thirsty and will drink 
water, put it in the drinking water; if not give it from 
a bottle three times a day. Bathe the neck with hot 
water and rub on camphorated liniment. If the breath- 
ing is difficult give three drops of the fluid extract of 
belladonna and ten grains of chlorate of potassium 
three times a day. 

HOGS "BREAKING DOWN" 

James Atkinson: "There are a number of ailments 
that might result in stiffening the hind quarters of hogs. 
It frequently happens that too heavy feeding of corn 
causes a weakening of the bones, and the 'animals break 
down.' This is apt to occur where they are not supplied 
much pasture, or grains or feeds other than corn. If 
the ailment is due-to corn, use such supplementary feeds 
as shorts, bran or linseed oil meal. Tankage is also an 
excellent food in cases of this kind, as it is a most satis- 
factory flesh and bone builder. Stiffness may be due to 
rheumatism. This, in our opinion, is the cause of a good 
deal of trouble among hogs. Sleeping in damp quarters 
is a cause of this ailment. We have known instances 
where it resulted when hogs were compelled to sleep on 
drafty floors. The hog can stand some hardship, but 
nothing will throw him out of condition quicker than 



-,Sq SWINE IN AMERICA 

air drafts that circulate through his sleeping quarters. 
As the cold nights approach generous bedding will pre- 
vent them from piling up and they will consequently do 
much better than if compelled to sleep on the bare floor 
or in damp quarters. If the food seems to be responsi- 
ble for the trouble, it might be necessary to do a little 
drugging in order to more quickly bring them to their 
normal condition. We have found that a teaspoonful of 
sulphur mixed with the food about three times a week 
will do more for a hog out of condition than anything 
else. If this is used, however, they must have good, 
dry quarters, otherwise there is danger of their taking 
cold, and this may result in lung fever. If charcoal is 
not available, supplying them with some ordinary coal 
slack serves a good purpose. It should be given in small 
quantities at first, because hogs in this condition are us- 
ually ravenous for mineral matter, and they may eat too 
much if they have free access to it." 

GARGET — INFLAMED UDDER 

Inflammation of the udder commonly occurs in heavy 
milkers, and is caused by all of the milk not being re- 
moved, says Craig. Frequently it occurs as a result of 
the milk accumulating in the udder when the sow has 
lost a part of her litter. Other causes are obstructed 
teats, injuries to the glandular tissue, and infection from 
germs. Congestion and inflammation of the udder 
sometimes follow a difficult birth. Milking the sow two 
or three times a day will usually relieve its congested 
condition. Epsom salts should be given every other day, 



THE MOST COMMON DISEASES OF SWINE 581 

and a sloppy diet fed. In case the udder becomes in- 
flamed it should be kneaded gently with the lingers and 
an ointment applied daily, made as follows: Extract of 
belladonna and gum camphor one dram of each, and 
vaseline three ounces. Hot fomentations may also be 
used. Sore teats should be bathed daily with one part 
zinc sulphate, three-fourths part lead acetate, and 30 
parts water until healed. 

SUNSTROKE 

Fat hogs driven, or even when hauled to market, in 
hot weather are very susceptible to the heat, and always 
under such circumstances measures should be taken, as 
well as in the yards and pastures, to afford protection 
which will ward off sunstroke. Hogs being shipped to 
market in hot weather should be frequently wetted 
with water to keep them cool. A hog suffering from 
heat or sunstroke should be moved to a shady place and 
cool water poured on the head and neck, but not on the 
rest of the body. 

Prof. John A. Craig explains why the hog suc- 
cumbs so unresistingly when overheated. The man or 
horse when heated soon has the surface of his body 
covered with perspiration, and the evaporation of this at 
once begins to reduce his temperature. Nature has made 
no such provision for the relief of the hog when heated 
by exposure to the sun or by excessive exercise. This 
is reason enough why it should have an abundant and 
convenient water supply, shade, and a convenient bathing 
or wallowing place, whether on summer pasturage or 
confined in a lot, and plenty of the green food that is 
laxative and cooling. 



5§2 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



PIGS LOSING THEIR TAILS 



The main cause of pigs' tails becoming sore and fall- 
ing off is foul nesting and sleeping quarters. The surest 
protection is cleaning out all bedding within three days 
after sows farrow, and at least once a week, or oftener, 
thereafter. If the tail is not too far gone when treated, 
it can usually be saved by greasing thoroughly with lard 
containing a little carbolic acid. If nests are kept clean 
the danger of sore tails will be slight. 

DRENCHING A HOG 

Prof. R. A. Craig in his work, "Disease of Swine," 
gives the following practical suggestions relative to 
administering medicine as a drench : 

"Drenching a hog is not difficult, if the animal is easy 
to manage and we go about it quietly. The quickest 
and easiest way to drench a drove of hogs is to drive 
them into a small pen, where they will have but little 
room to move about. To hold the animal while drench- 
ing it, a noose of sash cord or quarter-inch rope can be 
placed around the upper jaw, well back toward the angles 
of the lips, and the medicine thrown into the back part 
of the mouth with a dose syringe. As there is danger of 
the hog breaking the syringe, it is best to use a metal 
one. Sometimes when the drench is bulky and the hog 
hard to hold, it is necessary to elevate the head and raise 
t lie forefeet off the ground. For this purpose a pulley 
and rope wire stretcher is recommended. It should be 



THE -MOST COMMON DISEASES OF SWIM': 583 

Lung in the most convenient part of the pen, and the ani- 
mal secured in the usual way by placing a noose around 
the jaw. The end of the rope is thrown over the hook 
in the lower pulley and the hog drawn up until it is al- 
most off the floor. It is best to wait until the hog has 
become quiet and well under control before giving it the 
drench, as there is some danger of the medicine getting 
into the air passages and doing harm." 



Appendix 



NUMBERS AND VALUES FOR EACH OF 32 YEARS 



Year. 


Number. 


Price 
per 
head. 


Total 
Farm 
value. 


1877 


28,077,100 
32,262,500 
34,766,100 
34,034,100 
36,247,683 
44,122,200 
43,270,086 
44,200,893 
45,142,657 
46,092,043 
44,612,836 
44,346,525 
50,301,592 
51,602,780 
50,625,106 
52,398,019 
46,094,807 
45,206,498 
44,165,716 
42,842,759 
40,600,276 
39,759,993 
38,651,631 
37,079,356 
56,982,142 
48,698,890 
46,922,024 
47 009.367 
47,320,511 
52,102,847 
54,794,439 
56,084,000 


$5.66 
4.85 

3. 18 
4.28 
4.70 
5.97 
6.75 
5.57 
5.02 
4.26 
4.48 
4.98 
5.79 
4.72 

4. 15 
4.60 
6.41 
5.98 
4.97 
4.35 
4.10 
4.39 
4.40 
5.00 
6.20 
7.03 
7.78 
6.15 
5.99 
6. 18 
7.62 
6.05 


$158,873,410 


1878 


156,577 228 


1879 


110,507,788 


1880 

1881 


145,781,515 
170,535,435 


1882 

1883 


263,543,195 
291,951,221 


1884 


246,301,139 


1885 


226,401,683 


1886 

1887 


196,569,894 
200,043,291 


1888 


220,811,082 


1889 


291,307,193 


1890 

1891 


243,418,336 
210,193,923 


1892 


241,031,415 


1893 

1894 


295,426,492 
270,384,626 


1895 


219,501,267 


1896 


186,529,745 


1897 

1898 

1899 

1900 

1901 


166,272,770 
174,351,409 
170,109,743 
185,472,321 
353,012,143 


1902 


342,120,780 


1903 


364,973,688 


1904 


289,224,627 


1905 


283,254,978 


1906 


321,802,571 


1907 


417,791,321 


1908 


339,030,000 







LIVE AVEIGHTS AND LARD AVERAGES 

The average live weight of hogs packed in the West in 
the winter seasons (ending March i), and their average 
yield of lard, in pounds, for each of the 32 years named, 
as compiled by the Cincinnati Price Current, are here 
shown : 

585 



;86 SWINE IN AMERICA 



¥"ear. Weight. Lard. Year. Weight. Lard. 

1879 271.42 39.40 1894 248.20 36.07 

1880 266.17 36.32 1895 232.73 33.62 

1881 259.63 35.65 1896 240.71 35. 53 

262.70 36.44 1897 244.80 36 9 1 

1883 267.02 35.43 1898 235.35 34.73 

1884 251.44 33.25 1899 232.65 35.53 

1885 266.51 36.02 1900 235.67 35.97 

1886 258.98 35.22 1901 230.31 34.1o 

1887 251.31 33.54 1902 206.38 3130 

1888 242.30 31.06 1903 224.05 31.92 

188'' 263.46 34.76 1904 223.46 32.13 

1890 250.92 36.37 1905 221.73 31 7/ 

1891 239.75 33.45 1906 222.27 32.88 

1892 247.64 34.69 1907 222.88 

1893 227.73 31.66 1908 221.40 31.92 

The average live weight of hogs and yield of lard 
from hogs packed in the West in the summer season 

(ending November i i for 17 years are given by the 
same authority as below : 

Year. Weight. Lard. Year. Weight. Lard. 

1891 221.76 31.39 1900 228.74 34.12 

1892 222.42 31.23 1901 219.48 31.81 

1893 240.41 34.04 1002 223.11 31.34 

1894 229.98 33.05 1903 231.03 32.58 

1895 226.52 33.10 1004 222.09 32 . 39 

1896 240.76 40.61 1905 221.72 33.25 

1897 23').12 36.41 1906 223.14 32.18 

1898 231.36 33.24 1007 230.24 32.80 

1899 231.46 35.66 

YEARLY COST OF HOGS 



The average cost per hundred pounds of hogs alive, 
packed in the West in the summer and winter seasons, 
and the yearly average of cost for each of 24 years arc 
tabulated by the Price Current as follows: 

Year. Sum. Win. Year Year. Sum. 

1884-85 $5.35 $4.29 $4.70 1896-97 $3.30 

1885-86 3.90 3.66 3.75 1897-98 3.70 

1886-87...- 4.10 4.19 4.15 1898-99 3.85 

1887-88 4.75 5.04 4.90 1899-00 4.00 

1888-89 5.58 4.99 5 26 1900-01 5.12 

1880 90 4.30 3.66 3.98 1901-02 5.02 

91 3.91 3.54 3.74 1902-03 7.06 

1891-92 4.48 3.91 4.16 1903-04 6.11 

1892-9" 5.03 6.54 5.60 1004-05 5 16 

1803-94 6.33 5.26 5.87 1005-06 5 37 

'5 4. os 4.28 4 67 1006-07. fi 33 

1895-96 4.41 3.68 4.07 1907-08 6.20 



Win. 


Year 


$3 . 30 


- 


3.53 


3 63 


3.52 


3 7 1 


4 29 


4 11 


5.02 


5.07 


5.97 


5.94 


6.44 


6.81 


4 74 


5 54 


4 (.7 


4.95 


5.27 


5.33 


6.46 


6.38 


4.47 


5.52 



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587 



INDEX 



A 

PAGE 

Abortion I3,s 

Adams county, large litters in.... 145 

Age, hrst for bacon hog 329 

Alabama, chufas fed in 259 

Cottonseed metal in 382 

Pork production in 295 

Rice fed in 385 

Sweet potatoes fed in 254 

Values ' 7 

Alfalfa and tankage compared.... 391 

Chapter on 190 

Chaff boiled 305 

Fed in Colorado 354 

Hay 230 

Pasture 161, 225, 354 

Supplemental feed 340 

Time to cut 220 

Versus dry lot 209 

With barley 353 

With grain 210 

Alexander, Dr., A. S.. on diseases 535 

On pedigree 90 

Allen, A. B 47 

American bacon type 331 

Analysis of carcass 302 

Analyses of carcass, Div. of Chem- 
istry 303 

Stock feeds 367 

Wheat milk products 342 

Ancestors, importance of good... 91 
Animals, influence of pure breed. 11 

Anthrax 543 

Appetite important 316 

Arkansas, chufas fed in 260 

Cottonseed meal in 379-382 

Large litters in 144 

Values 7 

Armour, P. D., Jr., feeding test.. 338 

On scalding 50° 

Packing Co., on wheat feeding. 338 

Preferences 26 

Artichokes 242-255 

For pasture 168 

Assimilation important 316 

Atkinson on breakdown 579 

On exercise 136 

On hogging off corn 287 

On mange 571 

On slop feeding 418 



B 

PAGE 

Bacon 328 

Parley fed 552 

Canadian industry 23 

Danish, barley fed 351 

Exported 2 

From barley 350 

From frozen wheat 366 

From gluten 373 

From peas 357 

From roots 24 7 

From wheat feeding 338 

Hog described 329 

Hog, Neb. editor on 23 

Hogs 22 

Hogs in America 331 

Salting 519 

Soft 351 

Type unpopular in corn belt... 25 
Types, English and American.. 331 

Barber county, molasses in 405 

Barker, on large litters 144 

On pasture 172 

Barley 350 

Compared with corn 351 

Compared with rye 347 

Rich in protein 351 

Supplemental feed 340 

With alfalfa 211-213 

With beet pulp 401-403 

Barnes, on large litters 144 

Barrel for young pigs 127 

Barrows, in Chicago 326 

Barton country, large litters in... 143 

Bassett on hogging off corn 285 

Bean hulls 367 

Beds, importance of 317 

Beet by-products 400 

Beets in corn belt 249 

In favor 238 

Belted hogs 55 

Bennett, Thos 52 

Bennett, on rye pasture 172 

Berkshire and Poland-China colors 41 

Barley fed 352 

Color 49 

County, large litters in 143 

Crosses 527 

Feeding experiments 303 



59° 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



PAGE 

Berkshire and Poland-China, '"fe- 
ver" 48 

High-priced 100 

History 47 

Influence 10 

Influence on Victoria 57 

Large litter 144 

Points 49 

I 'opularity 35 

At fairs 30 

Classified 34 

fed rice 383 

Fed soy meal 344 

Inbreeding 77 

Indiana census 31 

Influence on Poland-Chinas 39 

In South 294 

Kafir-corn meal 344 

On alfalfa 219 

Preferred 28 

Slop feeding 418 

Taken to Ohio 40 

Bermuda grass for pasture 168 

Best on molasses 405 

Blood, dried 386, 399 

Flour 399 

Tells 91 

Blue grass for pasture 169 

Boar, feeding 96 

Importance of good 79 

Kept alone 93 

Personal choice of 87 

Precautions in buying 89 

Prize winning 89 

Selection, Bonham on 99 

Selection, Breeders' Gazette on 99 

Selection, Gentry on 99 

Selection, Lovejoy on 100 

Selection, Wallace on 99 

Summary of selection and man- 
agement 104 

Time to purchase 89 

Training 94 

When to select 86 

Market, defined 333 

Bone 386 

Fed in Nebraska 400 

Ground 399 

Bonham, L. M., on boar selection 99 

On hotel refuse 421 

( >n scars 593 

On stubble pasture 179 

I '.en me County, large litters in... 144 

Bran and corn with gluten 372 

Rice 385 

Rye feeding 350 

Wheat feeding 341 



PAGE 

Brayton, on root feeding 250 

Breakdown 579 

Breed, "best" 18 

Characteristics 18 

Choosing is 

Preference for 26 

Vs. quality 27 

Vs. type 19 

Breeder, common sense 13 

Breeders' Gazette on barren sows 137 

On boar selection 99 

On hog barns 449 

On impotency 97 

On oat and wheat feeding 347 

Breeder's qualifications 16 

Breeding 68 

Bad tendencies in 72 

Business 15 

Crate 147 

Effect on docility 13 

Effect on stricture 14 

False economy in 11 

Faulty 71 

For utility 21 

From immature animals 73 

History of 32 

In Illinois 73 

Influence on domestication 20 

Influence, shown in value 4 

Intelligence in 13 

Importance of good 15 

Methods not rigid 13 

Our bad traits 17 

Too refined 41 

Breeds at fairs 30 

Choice of 25 

Classified 34 

Fecundity of 145 

Influence of pure 25 

Non-fattening 22 

Why popular 25 

Brentnall, John 47 

Brewers' grains with molasses. . . . 405 

Bricks heated for pigs 127 

Britain 33 

Buck, on large litters 144 

Buckwheat 363 

And wheat compared 363 

Fed with wheat 363 

Buildings 448 

Cost 459 

Burkett, on pumpkin feeding 261 

Burlington County hogs 44 

Butcher hogs 326 

Butchering 508 

Butler County, Ohio 39 

Alfalfa in " 219 



INDEX 



591 






TAGE 

Cutler County, Ohio, hogs 40 

Stubble pasture in 179 

r.uttermilk, diseussed -439 

Economy of 395 

reeding 427 

In Michigan 430 

Buying, wisdom in 86 

Bvfield cross 40 

Hogs 39 

c 

Calls, useful 317 

Camper, A. C, on fasting 320 

Canada, artichokes fed in 25S 

Barley feeding in 350, 351 

Buckwheat fed in 363 

Field peas in 356 

Frozen wheat fed in 365 

Gluten used in 373 

Milk fed in 434 

Number of hogs in 1 

Oats fed in 346 

Potatoes fed in 253 

Pumpkins fed in 261 

Roots used in 240 

Wheat feeding in 340 

Canadian feeding records 306 

Carbohydrate, meaning of 301 

Carlyle, on hardness 527 

On rape feeding 173 

Carmichael, on tankage 397 

Carpenter, on large litters 143 

Carrot 239 

Cassava 259 

Castration ' 504 

Influence on values 7 

Cattle, following after 277 

Keeping hogs from 489 

Cedar County, self-feeders in. . . . 324 

Census, 1879 5 

1908 2 

Indiana swine 31 

Charcoal 367 

Chemical composition of carcass. . 303 

Cheshire 58 

Cheshires at fairs 30 

Classified 34 

Large litters in 143 

Scale of points 60 

Weight 59 

Chester, scale of points 38 

Weights 37 

Chester White, historv 35 

At fairs 30 

Classified 34 

Feeding experiments Z*K\ 



PACF 

Chester White, Indiana census... 31 

Influence on Victoria 57 

Large litter of 14 5 

Popularity 35 

Slop feeding 418 

Chicago, butcher hogs in 326 

Greatest market 5 

Market classification 325 

Percentage bacon hogs in 331 

Percentage light hogs in... 328, 331 

Percentage of packing hogs.... 328 

Percentage of pigs in 333 

Chinas, big 40 

Curing 521 

Chinese boars' influence 33 

Cholera 536 

Germs 537 

How spread 538 

Symptoms of 540 

Immunizing against 546 

Treatment of 546 

Cholera and Tuberculosis 542 

Cholera, preventing 544.546 

Chufas 259 

Fed in South Carolina 258 

For pasture 168 

To supplement corn 297 

Cincinnati, light hog market 6 

Classes, market 325 

Clay, General, C. M 44 

Clay, J. B 44 

Cleanliness, importance of 315-444 

Unfavorable to lice 499 

Clover pasture 161 

Supplemental feed 340 

Coal, hogs eat 321 

Coarseness, avoid 82 

Cockle burs fatal 575 

Coffee County, alfalfa in 22Ci 

Columbiana County, large litters in 144 

Color of Berkshires 49 

Of Durocs 45 

Preferences 26 

Tamworth 53 

Colorado, alfalfa in 193 

Barley fed in 353 

Beet by-products in 401 

Peas in 356 

Squashes fed in 263 

Colors, Berkshire and Poland-China 41 

Of hogs 10-34 

Comfort, importance of 317 

Composition of carcasses 302, 303 

Concrete floors 473 

Confinement in yards 312 

Conformation, indicates constitution 71 

Connecticut, large litters in 144 



592 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



PACE 

Connecticut, values 7, S 

Constipation 575 

Constitution, inbreeding weakens. 76 

Importance of 85 

Primary aim 74 

Cooking feed unprofitable 304 

Copenhagen, feeding in 347 

Roots fed in 251 

Rye feeding in 350 

Corn and bran with gluten 572 

Corn, chapter on 365 

Cost in making pork 269 

Deficient in protein 358 

Feeding new 287 

Frosted 276 

Green stalks 289 

Hogging off 280 

Influence on hog growing 10 

Kafir 343 

Offal 367 

Quantity required 269 

Soft 276 

Stalks, ground with molasses... 405 

Supplements and substitutes.... 290 

Vs. wheat for hogs 338 

With alfalfa 213 

With linseed meal 375 

With offal 387 

Corn meal and gluten compared.. 371 

And milk 432 

Gains on 360 

Impairs appetite 360 

Impairs growth 360 

Impairs digestion 360 

Makes good pork 362 

Poor pork producer 359 

Saved 389 

Wet or dry 307 

With milk 428 

With tankage 390 

Corn-on-coh meal 273 

Cornell on dairy by-products 431 

( iluten used at ^72 

Molasses fed at 403 

( )n swill feeding 420 

Roots used at 240 

Cost, average, to packers 5 

Of hogs 5S6 

Per 100 pounds 9 

Cottonseed cake 374 

VIeal 378 

Cornell. II. M 53 

Prof. II. M., on barley 353 

Prof. II. M., on wheat feeding. 340 

Country Gentleman, on rye pasture 348 

Cownie, on feeding new corn.... 288 

t)n quality of corn 270 



Cownie, on young pigs 129 

Co wpeas 176 

For pasture 168 

To supplement corn 296 

Craig, on abortion 138 

On drenching 582 

On inflamed udder 580 

On sunstroke 581 

Crate breeding 147 

Crewell, on large litters 144 

Crosses, Razor-Hack 14 

Crossing influence on values 7 

Cudahay 27 

Cuino 63-64 

Curtis, Col. F. D., on Victorias... 57 

Curing 508-515 

Custer County, hog house in 471 

Cuts, desirable 329 



l> 



Dairy by-products at Cornell 431 

Dairying and pork-making 445 

Dakota, emmer in 362 

Farmer, on rape feeding 174 

Millet in - 364 

Pork-making and dairying 447 

Speltz in 362 

Dam, personal choice of 87 

Davenport, Prof., on importance 

of sire 102 

On inbreeding 78 

Day, Prof. G. E., on feed con- 
sumption 318 

Day, on roots 248 

Day's output . . ' 5 

Denham, on milk 430 

Denmark, barley fed in 351 

Experiments with rye in 349 

Feeding in 347 

Roots fed in 251 

Dexter, large litter at 144 

Dick's Creek hogs 40 

Dials on disinfection 500 

Diesen, on beets 250 

Dietrich, William, on buildings, 

451-453 

On individual houses 480 

On markets 325 

Dinwiddie, on cottonseed meal... 380 

Dipping 492 

Device 495 

Dips 405 

Disease, losses from 533 

Diseases 532 

Disinfection discussed 4°1 

Disposition, importance of good. 83-85 



INDEX 



593 



PAGE 

Distillers' grains with molasses, . 405 

Distribution in United States.... 3 

Division of chemistry analysis.... 303 

Domestication clue to breeding... 14 

Influence of 3i 

Doniphan County, fasting in 3 JO 

Drainage important 314 

Drenching 582 

Duggan, on pork production 295 

Duroc-Jerseys at fairs 30 

And colors 45 

Classified 34 

Feeding experiments 303 

History 43 

Indiana census 31 

Influence 11 

Large litter 143 

Points 46 

Popularity 35 

E 

Economy in breeding, fal-e 11 

Emmer 362 

With alfalfa 213 

England, fasting in 320 

English bacon type 331 

Entomologist discusses lice 497 

Environment, influence of 14 

Importance of good 15 

Essex 58 

At fairs 30 

Classified 34 

Fasting in 320 

Indiana census 31 

Europe, offal fed in 3S7 

Excellence, how to judge 89 

Exercise, importance of 136 

Xeed of 157 

Exhibitions, breeds at 30 

Exports 2 

F 

Fairs, breeds a' 30 

Farmers' Home Journal reports 

large litters 144 

Farmers' Voice on dipping 497 

Farrowing, assistance at 125 

Feeding after 131 

Time for 120 

Fasting 319 

Fattening 154 

Gluten meal in 372 

On alfalfa 210 

On molasses 403 

Fecundity 21 



PAGI 

Fecundity, of breeds 145 

Feed and weight tabic 311 

Feed, calling hogs to 317 

Changes, make gradual 316 

Classes of 301 

Consumed in Ontario experi- 
ments 318 

Cooking 300 

Cooking unprofitable 304 

Gluten 371 

Ground 306 

Influence of 25 

Quantity of 293 

Quantity varies 316 

Regularly 316 

Feeders, defined 334 

Feeding, after farrowing 131 

Changes in 315 

Effects of wrong 308 

Experiments, Iowa 303 

Experiments, Utah 308 

Henry on 300-307 

Ill-balanced 267 

Influence on domestication.... 21 

Influence on values 7 

In Wisconsin 361 

Milk, gradual changes in 443 

New methods of 300 

Progress in 300 

Quantity of milk 444 

Swill, Cornell on 420 

Unwise 299 

Feeds, adulterated 364 

Bulky 238 

Classes of 301 

Raised and bought 299 

Single or combined 309 

Stock 367 

Fellows, feeds rice bran 386 

Fence, portable 175 

Fenugreek 367 

Fields, John, on cottonseed meal 3S3 

Finney County, alfalfa in 192 

Flaxseed cake 374 

Floors, concrete 473 

Florida, cassava fed in 260 

Sweet potatoes fed in 254 

Values 7 

Flour as feed 366 

Blood 399 

Feeding 366 

Waste with molasses 405 

Forbes, E. B., on corn-on-cob meal 275 

On linseed meal 375 

Fowler Packing Co 27 

F x, on pork production 295 

Fulton, on curing 517 



594 



SWINE IX AMERICA 



PAGE 

Fuller, Prof. J. G„ on feeding. . . 361 

Fuller, on house 462 

On portable houses 479-487 

On southern pork 523 

G 

Gains, best 315 

Economical 373 

From kafir corn meal 344 

From flour 367 

From linseed meal 376 

From soy meal 344 

In hogging off corn 283 

In South 297 

On alfalfa 196 

On Berkshires 294 

On corn 272 

On corn meal 360 

On corn products 276 

On cowpeas 177 

On emmer 362 

On middlings 360 

On milk 428. 432, 433 

On pasture 162 

On pumpkins 263 

On rape 173 

On rice 385 

On rice by-products 383 

On roots 247 

On skim milk i'>2. 438 

On slop 419 

On soiling 234 

On sour milk 438 

On soy beans 359 

On speltz 362 

On tankage 390, 392, 394 

On whey <!34, 4-1 1 

Per hundred pounds 318 

Garget 580 

Garnet, Maj. Joel 55 

Garth, on hog house 467 

Gaumnitz, on hogging off corn... 285 

Gentry, on watering 412 

' )n hiiar selection 99 

N. II., on boar feeding 96 

X. II.. mi inbreeding 76 

Georgeson, Prof. C. C. feeds, 

kafir corn 343 

t ieorgia, number of lings in 2 

Germany, beet pulp in 403 

Offal fed in 387 

Gillette, <>n lice 497 

Gladhill, A. T., on fasting 320 

Gluten 371 

Y-. milk 135 

Governments defined 334 



PAGE 

Grades, influence of 11 

.Market 325 

Grain and roots 242 

Damaged 366 

Feeds, ground 337 

Grains, burnt 365' 

Frosted 365 

Graziers, Irish 39, 57 

Grazing J. 69 

Great Britain, number of hogs in 1 

Western hogs 40 

Gregory's Creek hogs 40 

Grey, on pork production 295 

Grisdale, J. H., on artichoke feed- 
ing 259 

On pea feeding 357 

Grizzly pig 52 

Growth, Prof. Henry, on 318 

Guinea 61, 63 

H 

Hams, cured 527 

Curing 517 

Exported 2 

Hampshire at fairs 30 

Association 55 

History 55 

Indiana census 31 

Markings 35 

Points 56 

Weights 56 

Hardiness 526 

Harris, W. A., on boar feeding. . . 96 

Hart, on hog house 470 

Hatch station, milk f eil at 435 

Hawes, Siday 47 

Hay, alfalfa 230 

Hays, on pasture rotation 180 

Hendricks County, large litters in 143 

Henry, Prof. W. A., analyzes milk 133 

Compares corn and middlings.. 341 

Feeds middlings 341 

On average gains 310 

On barley feeding 351 

On brewers' grains 405 

On buttermilk feeding 440 

On cooking feed 305 

On dried blood 399 

On fattening 154 

On feeding 300, 307 

On feeding kafir corn meal.... 344 

On flour 366 

On gains 318 

On ill-balanced feeding 267 

< )n milk feeding 444 

On molasses 404 



INDEX 



.S'JJS 



PACE 

Henry, Prof. \V. A., on oat feeding 346 

On pea feeding 356 

On rape feeding 175 

On root feeding 251 

On roots 239 

On rye feeding 350 

On whey feeding 440 

liens 448 

Hoard, on alfalfa 191 

Hoard's Dairyman, on milk feed- 
ing 427 

On canker 577 

Hog, bacon, described 329 

Butcher 326 

Common sense 13, 18 

Dead, defined 335 

Industry, the 307 

Lard, defined 335 

Light 328 

Not a machine 13 

Packing, the 327 

Practical 21 

Prime 326 

Undesirable for bacon 330 

Wild i2, 65 

Hogging off corn 282 

Off rye 34S 

Hollenbeck, on large litters 143 

Homestead, on exercise 136 

On large litters 144 

On removing tusks 101 

Hominy chops 373 

Houses 448 

Cost 459 

Combination 462 

Individual 479 

Housing important 317 

Huddlcston, on large litters 145 

Hulls 365 

Humphry, Trof. G. C, on feeding 361 

Hydrocarbon, meaning of 301 

I 

Ideal hog 19, 71 

Illinois, alfalfa in 2M 

Beets fed in 249 

Buildings in 451, 453, 454 

Bulletin on markets 325 

Cowpeas in 178 

Fasting in 319 

Hog house 465 

Hogs with cattle in 278 

Inbreeding in 77 

Individual houses in 480 

Number of hogs in 2 

Roots fed in 250 



Illinois, rye pasture in 172 

Values 7, 8 

Immunizing against cholera 556 

Importation influence on values.. 7 

Impotency, temporary 97 

Improvement proportions 7 

Inbreeding 75 

In Illinois 77 

In Missouri 76 

Superstitions 77 

Increase in 30 years 4 

Rapid 21 

Indiana, animal meal at 389 

Cockle burs fatal in 576 

Feeding in 360 

Hog house in 468-470 

Large litters in 143, 144 

Xumber of hogs in 2 

Offal fed at 387 

On water 407 

Roots fed in 242 

Slop feeding in 418 

Soy beans in 357, 358 

Victorias in 57 

Water experiments 312 

Indianapolis 6 

Influence of pure breeds 25 

Insulander, on molasses 403 

Iowa, aged sows preferred in.... 146 

Alfalfa in 195, 233 

Animal meal at 389 

Breeder, on young pigs 129 

Corn substitutes in 291 

Cottonseed meal in 382 

Farrowing in 118 

Feeding, experiment stations . . 303 

Feeding rye in 348 

Hogging off corn in 284 

Lice discussed in 497 

Number of swine in 2 

Packing house stuffs 588 

Quality of corn in 270 

Self-feeders in 324 

Swill feeding in 423 

Values 7, 8 

Watering in 416 

Irish Grazier 39, 40 

Ives, on large litters 143 

J 

Jamison, John M., feeds rye. pas- 
ture 348 

On rooting 186 

Javelina 65 

Jay County, Img house in 470 

Jefferson County, alfalfa in 191 



; 9 6 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



PAGE 

Jefferson County, Cheshires 58 

Reds, name given 44 

Johnson County, mukfoot hogs in 62 

Johnson, on large litters 143 

Jordan, on feeding 133 

K 

Kafir corn 343 

Grinding 306 

1 n Kansas 358 

Meal fed 344 

With alfalfa corn 193 

Kansas, alfalfa test in 193 

Alfalfa fed in 232 

Alfalfa in 192, 219, 233 

Beets fed in 250 

Experiments on shelters 317 

Farmer, hog house 467 

Farmer, on mistakes 321 

Fasting in 320 

Feeding kafir corn in 344, 345 

Hog house in 467 

Kafir corn in 193, 343 

Large litters in 143 

Molasses in 405 

Number of hogs in 2 

Kansas City, second big market. . 6 

Slaughtering in 513 

Si iv beans in 358 

Values 8 

Watering in 411 

Wheat-fed hogs in 338 

Kay, on large litters 145 

kellam, on large litters 145 

Kentucky, cottonseed meal in.... 382 

Large litters in 144 

Values 7 

Kidney worm 561 

Kingan & Co 28 

On scalding 510 

Kinzer, on alfalfa 196 

L 

Laird, James, on fasting 320 

Lake County, Victorias in 57 

I. audits, on large litters 145 

Lard averages 9, 585 

Average yield 5 

Compounds 2 

Exported 2 

From wheat and corn feeding.. 338 

Hog 22 

Hog, defined 335 

Hog, Neb. editor ,,-, 23 

Hog still popular 23 



TAGK 

Lard, oil 2 

Law, Dr., on molasses 404 

Lawes & Gilbert 302 

Lazy farm ' markets heaviest hr ; 317 

Legume, pasture '. . 161 

Lewis County, large litter*; ... 144 

Lice are blood suckers. 493 

Discussed 497 

Lincoln, alfalfa at ' 197 

Linseed meal 374 

As feed 360 

Economy of 395 

Vs. milk 435 

Litters, proportion of sex in 75 

Louisiana, values 7 

Lovejoy, A. J., on boar selection. 100 

On inbreeding 77 

On scars 574 

On swill feeding 422 

On watering 412 

Lung worms 543 

Lupton, E. H., feeds kafir corn.. 345 

Lynchburg, large litters in 145 

M 

Mackay imports Ilampshires 55 

Mackintosh, on black teeth 577 

On mange 570 

On parasites 556 

On thumps 578 

Magie hogs 40 

D. M., of Ohio 42 

Mahogany pig 52 

Maine, feeds middlings 341 

Malt sprouts with molasses 405 

Man, influence of 25 

Mange 569 

Mangel 239 

Markets, the great hog 5 

Marking pigs 158 

Maryland, gluten fed in 435 

Linseed fed in 435 

Milk fed in 435 

Sweet potatoes fed in 254 

Mason, Chas., on self-feeders.... 324 

Massachusetts, corn meal in 385 

Buttermilk fed in 439 

Large litters in 143 

Milk fed in 435 

Rice meal in 385 

Values 7, 8 

Masterpiece 77000 100 

Maturity hastened 7 

Important 73 

McBride, Win., on fasting 319 

MeCready, on large litters 144 



INDEX 



597 



PAGE 

Meade County, large litters in. . . . 144 

Meal, blood 399 

Bone 399 

t'"i n-on-cob 273 

K 385 

Meas 564 

Meat ii'o. i millet 364 

Meal and skim milk compared.. 391 
Scrap 386 

Medicine, secondary 535 

Miami Valley hogs 40 

Michigan, concrete floors in 473 

Milk fed in 430 

Pork making and dairying 445 

Portable houses in 482 

Skim milk in 392 

Succotash in 171 

Tankage in 392 

Middlings, buckwheat 363 

Defined 342 

Economy of 395 

Gains on 360 

Make good pork 362 

On soy beans 359 

Rye feeding 350 

Wheat, feeding 341 

Wheat, with soy beans 358 

Milk, analyses 133 

Comparison in 429 

Skim and packers' residue com- 
pared 391 

Skim, with rice 383 

Skim, for young pigs 375 

Skim, at Cornell 372 

Skim, with gluten 371 

Skim, discussed 438 

Skim, fed with oats 346 

Skim, feeding 427 

Sour 438 

Vs. linseed and gluten 435 

With potatoes 253 

Millet 364 

Grinding 306 

Milliken, J. M 39 

Mill tailings, defined 342 

Milwaukee 7 

Minnesota, fasting ii 319 

Hogging off corn in 285 

Large litters in 144 

Pasture rotation ii 180 

Mississippi, cottonseed meal in... 382 

Cowpeas in 177 

Pork raising in 293 

Valley, hog supply i:i 335 

Values 7 

Missouri, alfalfa in 233 

Artichokes fed in 256 



PAGE 

Missouri, corn-on-cob meal i:i 273, 275 

Forage in 161 

Inbreeding in 76 

Linseed meal in 375 

Number of hogs in 2 

Rice bran fed in 386 

Soiling in 234 

Values 7 

Mistakes to avoid 321 

Mohler, on diseases 533 

Molasses 403 

In Utah 404 

With beet pulp 402 

Montana roots fed in 242 

Month's output 5 

Moore, A. C, of Illinois 41 

Hogs 40 

On molasses 404 

Morals, hog 20 

Morris & Co 28, 29 

On scalding 509 

Morrow, on corn-made gain i 272 

Mulefoot 61 

Weights 62 

Mulefoots, Indiana census 31 

Mustard hulls J67 

Myrick, on beet by-products 401 



N 



National Stockman, on large lit- 
ters 145 

On sows eating pigs 131 

National Swine Association names 

breeds 40 

Neapolitan boars' influence 33 

Nebraska, alfalfa in 197, 232 

Bone fed in 400 

Dipping in 492 

Editor on bacon hog 23 

Farmer describes hog house.... 471 

Hog house in 470 

Large litters in 145 

Number of hogs in 2 

Tankage at 390 

Nevada, values 7 

New Brunswick, large litters in.. 144 
New Hampshire, pumpkins fed in 261 

New Jersey values 7 

New York, Cheshires in 58 

Cottonseed meal in 382 

Large litters in 143 

Value 7 

Victorias in 57 

Niles, on parturition 140 

North Carolina, cottonseed meal in 382 
North Platte, alfalfa at 198 



^ 



; 9 8 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



PAGE 

Number of hogs received at Chi- 
cago S 

To keep 314 

Numbers of hogs 1 

o 

Oat hulls objectionable 347 

Oats and linseed meal compared. 375 

Feeding 346 

Ground for feeding 346 

More expensive than corn 346 

Whole vs. ground 346 

Oaxaca, hogs in 64 

Offal for feeding 387 

Ohio and Texas, values compared 4 

Ohio, Chesters in 36 

Farmer, on butchering 512 

Farmer on rooting 186 

Large litters in 143 

Number of hogs in 2 

Poland-Chinas in 39 

Portable houses in 485 

Stubble pasture in 179 

Tankage at 395 

Values 8 

Yorkshires brought to 51 

(). I, C, meaning of term 36 

Oil meal 374 

Oklahoma, alfalfa in 225, 227, 231 

Cottonseed meal in 382 

Ponds in 413 

Omaha, receipts 6 

Third market 6 

Ontario, artichokes fed in 258 

Barley feeding in 351, 353 

Feed experiments 318 

Field peas in 356 

Frozen wheat fed in 365 

Gluten in 373 

Milk fed in 434 

Oats fed in 346 

Potatoes fed in 253 

Pumpkins fed in 261 

Roots fed in 239, 248 

Wheat feeding in 340 

Whey fed in 441 

Orange County, large litters in.. 145 

Orchard grass for pasture 170 

Oregon, artichokes fed in.... 256, 258 

Oregon, pasture in 162 

Pumpkins fed in 261 

Otis, on alfalfa 223 

Ottawa, buckwheat fed at 363 

( hitput in a day 5 

Overlay 4/7 

Ozark hogs 62 



P 

PAGE 

Packer's output in a day 5 

Preferences 26 

Packing hogs 327 

House by-products 386 

Parturition, Niles on 140 

Paskell, on watering 411 

Pasturage, supplemental feed 340 

Pasture, alfalfa 225 

Early 169 

Gains on 167 

Limitations 167 

Location 461 

Rotation of 179 

Stubble 179 

Value of 161 

Pawnee County, hog house in. . . . 467 
Peanuts, fed in South Carolina. . 257 

For pasture 168 

To supplement corn 296 

Peas, Canada field fed in 356 

Exclusively 357 

For soiling 356 

Grinding 306 

Hulls of 367 

Substitutes for corn 356 

With grain crops 356 

Peccaries 64 

Pedigree 90 

Associations 2o 

Certificate of ancestry 80 

Importance of knowing 79 

Man back of 91 

Tabooed, fancy 20 

Vs. type 19 

Penitentiary, watering hogs in... 411 

Pen holders, defined 335 

Pens, cost 459 

Pennsylvania, values 7 

Peter, Charles, on fasting 320 

Peters, on dipping 4^2 

Pickling 518 

Pigs, birth of 126 

Eaten by sows 130 

Fall 155 

Fed soy beans 359 

Feeding young 151 

Market type 332 

Marking 158 

Percentage in Chicago 333 

Weights of 332 

Young, barley fed 352 

Young, in rye 348 

Young, linseed meal for 375 

Plague swine 536-542 

Poland-China and Berkshire colors 41 






INDEX 



599 



Poland-China and Berkshires, at 

fairs 30 

Classified 34 

Crosses 527 

Fecundity 145 

Fed kafir corn meal 344 

Fed soy meal 344 

Feeding experiments 303 

History 39 

Hold their own 40 

Indiana census 31 

Influence 10 

Influence on Victoria 57 

Large litters 144 

Name adopted 40 

On alfalfa 219, 223 

Points 42 

Popularity 35 

Preferred 28 

Soiling 234 

Sizes 41 

Polk County, fasting in 319 

Ponds 411 

Building 413 

Pork, cost of making 269 

Exported 2 

For curing 327 

For the south 523 

From barley 350 

From linseed meal 375 

From millet 364 

From rye 349 

Making and dairying 445 

Making, home 517, 523 

Mess 327 

Raising in the south 293 

Soft 361 

Portugal, supposed home of Durocs 44 

Potatoes fed 305 

Feeding 252 

Sweet 253 

Prairie Farmer, on sow feeding.. 122 

Preserving 515" 

Price, average at Chicago 6 

Current, Cincinnati, on weights 585 

On large litters 144 

Prices, influence of high 15 

Of swine 585 

Prime hogs 326 

Princess Anne County, fasting in 320 

Prize awarded A. B. Allen 47 

Profits attractive 13 

Dependent on care 16 

Wallace on 314 

Profitableness of hogs 300 

Prolificacy, examples of 112 

Injured by breeding 73 



PAGE 

Protection important 317 

Proteid, meaning of 301 

Protein in corn 372 

In peas 35<j 

Producing 358 

Pulley, on watering 416 

Pumpkins 260 

o 

Quaker influence on hog growing 35 

Qualifications of breeder 16 

Quarantining discussed 4 r '0 

Quiet, importance of 317 

Quincy, on soiling 162 

Quinsy 5/8 

R 

Randolph County, fasting in 319 

Rankin, on beets 249 

Rape 173 

And alfalfa compared 222 

Ration, badly balanced 267 

Razor-Backs 14, 60, 526" 

Blood not needed 74 

Non-fattening 23 

Receipts at stock yards 6 

Kansas City 6 

Red Dog 366 

Refuse, hotel 421 

Register and Farmer, on swill 

feeding 423 

Regularity important 316 

Retirement, age for 101 

Reynolds, on pork making 445 

Rhode Island values 7, 8 

Rice, by-products 3S3 

Polish 385 

With corn meal 385 

Rickling, fasting in 320 

Ridgeway, on pork production.. 296 

Riley County, fasting in 320 

Ringing 185 

Robison, on alfalfa 219 

Rogers, on tubercular hugs 553 

Rommel, on animal meal 388 

On barley feeding 354 

On beet pulp 402 

On dips 495 

On oat feeding 346 

On pumpkins 261 

On roots 242 

Geo. M., on soaking feed 307 

On water needed 312 

Rooting 185 

Roots and bacon 247 



6oo 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



I'AGE 

Roots and grain 242 

Boiled 305 

Comparative value 240 

Use of 238 

With barley 353 

Ross County, rooting in 186 

Rye feeding in 348 

Kothamsled, experiments cited.... 302 

Roughs denned 333 

Russian cross 40 

Hogs 39 

Rutabaga 239 

Rye and barley compared 347 

Rye, as nurse crop 348 

As pasture 347 

Discussed 347 

Ground 349 

For pasture 170 

Pasture 1 72 

Supplemental feed 340 

Wet 349 

S 

St. Joseph 6 

St. Louis, market 6 

On diseases 533 

On tubercular hogs 552 

Salt distribution 520 

Sand, hogs eat 321 

Sanitation, discussed 4'*0 

Prevents disease 532 

Saratoga County hogs 44 

County Victorias in 57 

Sausage, boars used for 334 

Scalding 509 

Scars 572 

Schoharie County, large litters in 143 

Schwarzchild & Sulsberger 29 

Schlerostotum dentatum 564 

St- rub vs. pedigree 91 

Scrubs, declining 11 

From bure-breds, making 18 

Selection, age for 92 

Influence on domestication 20 

Influence on values 7 

Importance of 69 

Self-feeders 323, 324 

Sermon on the Mount 20 

Service, age for 94 

Sex, proportion in litters 75 

Shaker hogs 40 

Influence on hog raising 39 

Shaw, cited 33 

On concrete floors 473 

On linseed meal 374 

On overlays 478 



PAGF 

Shaw, on pea feeding 356 

On portable houses 482 

Shawnee, large litters in 145 

Shelter, important 317 

Shepard, S. M., book by 84 

On dipping device 496 

Sheridan County, kafir corn fed in 345 

Shipstuff, defined 342 

Shorts and tankage compared.... 391 

Shorts, defined 342 

Rye, feeding 350 

Wheat, feeding 341 

Shotes, on rye 349 

Shoulders, cured 327 

Curing 517 

Sides, salting 519 

Sihler, on measles and trichina... 564 

Sires, desirable points of 82 

Influence of pure-bred 11 

Immature undesirable 95 

Importance of good 91 

Importance of pure-bred 81 

Personal choice of 87 

When to select 86 

Size, Chester 37 

Hampshire 56 

Of yards 312 

Poland-Chinas 41 

Popular 29, 30 

Preferred 27 

The object 8 

Skim milk, economy of 395 

With beet pulp 403 

Skinner, on pig feeding 360 

Prof., on soy beans 357, 358 

Slaughter house waste 386 

Number of, 1908 5 

Slaughtering 508 

Slop, advantages of 418 

Smith, II. R., on alfalfa 222 

Smith County, fasting in 320 

On alfalfa' 232 

Smoking 518 

Snyder, on alfalfa 198, 212 

Soaking feed 308 

Soiling 162 

Alfalfa in Missouri 234 

Sorghum 403 

Molasses in Kansas 405 

To supplement corn 296 

South Carolina, artichokes fed in. 257 

Rice in 383, 385 

Sweet potatoes fed in 253 

South Dakota, dipping device in.. 496 

Sou. condition for breeding 117 

Good brood 109 

Housing 123 



INDEX 



60 1 



PAGF. 

Sow, influence on litter 118 

Keeping good 107 

Persona] choice of 87 

Prize-winning 89 

Protection for 117 

Selection 108 

Treatment of ugly 125 

Weight of 74 

Sows, barley for 352, 353 

Barren 137 

Best age for breeding 146 

Brood, after caul. 119 

Eating pigs 130 

Fed linseed meal 374 

Gluten for 372 

In rye 348 

Nest 125 

Number needed to start 112 

Old, unsalable 27 

Too many 22 

Winter care of 122 

Soy bean meal fed 344 

Beans 357 

Economy of 395 

Get nitrogen from air 359 

Grinding 306 

Supplement corn 297, 359 

Makes good pork 362 

Spain, supposed home of Durocs. 44 

Spare ribs, curing 521 

Spraying 506 

Speltz 362 

Spencer, on young pigs 128 

Spiroptera strongyline 563 

Spraying 492 

Springfield, rice bran at 386 

Squashes 260 

Fed in Colorado 263 

Stag, defined 101 

Stags, defined 333 

Stamina, injured by breeding. ... 73 

Primary aim 74 

Standards, establishing 25 

Stock, registered, importance of.. 68 

Stock yard receipts, Union 5 

Strongylus dentatus 562 

Elongatus 563 

Stubble, pasture 179 

Succotash, for pasture 170 

Suffolk 58 

History 50 

Suffolk's Indiana census 31 

Classified 34 

Sugar, by-products 400 

Industry, American 401 

Sumner County, alfalfa in 224 

Sumter, on alfalfa 224 



PACE 

Sunshine, a cleanser 153 

Sunstroke 591 

Superstitions about inbrei ding. . . 77 

Sweden, molasses in 403 

Sweepings 365 

Swift & Co 29, 30 

Swift, on scalding 509 

Swill, danger in 419 

Swine, busbandry quoted 267 

T 

Tails, pigs lose their 581 

Tamworths, at agricultural colleges 53 

At fairs 30 

Classified 34 

Crosses 54 

Feeding experiments 303 

For bacon 52 

History of 52 

Influence of 11 

Indiana census 31 

Points 54 

Slow maturing 53 

Why unprofitable 54 

Tankage, economy of 395 

Fertilizer, not a food 399 

On soy beans 359 

Supplements corn 296, 358 

With corn meal 389 

Tar. preparations 495 

Taylor Bros., on large litters 145 

Teeth, black 577 

Sharp, on young pigs 135 

Tennessee, large litters in 145 

Milk fed in 432 

Number of hogs in 2 

Values 7 

Texas and Ohio, values compared 4 

Texas, cottonseed meal in 381 

Number of hogs in 2 

Value of hogs in 4 

Thin Rind 50, 55 

Association 55 

Thumps 578 

Time to kill 318 

Tobias, on hog house 471 

Trichina 564 

Trough, pigs feeding 151 

Troughs, illustrated 423-426 

Tuberculosis 550 

Turnip 239 

Turnips, cooked 249 

Tusks, removing 101 

Types, "bacon" and "lard" 22 

Type, bacon, in corn belt 25 

Common sense 13 



602 



SWINE IN AMERICA 



PASE 

Types, degenerate IS 

Farmer's ideal 19 

For different men 18 

Locality influences 34 

Most profitable 19, 21 

Robust 20 

Selected for 69 

Vs. breeds 19 

u 

Udder, inflamed 580 

Uniformity, lost 12 

Union Village hogs 39, 40 

Union stock yards receipts 5 

United Kingdom, number of hogs 

in 1 

United States hog supply 335 

Number of hogs in 1 

Utah, alfalfa in 192 

Feeding experiments 308 

Milk fed in 428 

Molasses fed at 404 

Roots fed in 242 

Soiling in 163 

Utility, a factor 26 

V 

Value of hogs in U. S 4 

< >f hog products 1 

Variations 7 

Values by states 587 

t ompared 5 

Of swine 585 

U. S. department of agriculture 7 

Verill, on worms 561 

Vermont, large litters in 145 

Sweet and soul milk fed in.... 438 

Vetch 178 

Victoria, Davis 57 

Victorias at fairs 30 

Classified 34 

History of 57 

Indiana census 31 

Sc;ilt- of points 58 

Weight 57 

Virginia, fasting in 320 

Flour feeding in 366 

w 

Wabash 407 

Losses on 408 

Wallace, Henry, on alfalfa 233 

On boar selection 99 

On brood sows 139 



PAGE 

Wallace, Henry, on hogs make-up 309 

On maximum profits 314 

Wallace's Farmer, on self-feeders 324 

On corn substitutes 291 

Wallows 411 

Gentry, on 412 

Lovejoy, on 412 

Paskell. on 411 

Walter Bros., on large litters.... 143 

Warren County, Ohio 39 

Hogs 40 

Large litters in 143 

Washington County, large litters 

in 144 

Washington, cottonseed meal in.. 382 

Waste, slaughter house 386 

Water, consumed 312 

Effect in slop 418 

Supply 314 

Surface 407 

Watering, device for 416 

Waters, compares alfalfa and 

clover 235 

On forage 161 

Weaning 149 

Week's output ■ 5 

Weight and feed table 311 

Average of young pig 115 

Desired 9 

Increases 318 

Unprofitable 37 

Weights, average 5 

Average, at Chicago 6 

Average, at Kansas City 6 

Average, at Omaha 6 

Average lard 9 

Chester 37 

Hampshire 56 

Hogs will dress 524 

Live 585 

Poland-China 41 

Popular 29, 30 

Preferred 27 

Tamworth 53 

Wheat and buckwheat compared.. 363 

And millet compared 364 

Bleached, feeding 340 

Burnt 365 

Fed with buckwheat 363 

For breeding stock 340 

For growth 340 

For hogs 337 

Frozen 366 

Meal and gluten compared 372 

Middlings and linseed meal 

compared 375 

Milk products analyses 342 



INDEX 



603 



PAGE 

Wheat, shriveled, feeding 341 

Soaked, feeding test 338 

Spoiled, feeding 340 

Sprouted, feeding 340 

Vs. corn for hogs 338 

With beet pulp 401 

With kafir corn 343 

Whey, discussed 440 

Gains on 434 

White River, losses on 408 

Wilson, on hogging off corn 285 

Prof. J. W., on millet 364 

Wiltshire, side 328 

Wisconsin, alfalfa in 191 

Combination house in 462 

Cottonseed meal in 382 

Crossing in 526 

Discussion of pedigree 90 

Erroneous feeding in 267 

Feed grinding 306 

Feeding oats in 346 

Feeding swine in 361 

Houses in 479 

Milk feeding in 444 

Number of hogs in 2 

On size of litters 115 

Portable houses in 487 

Pape at 173 



PAGE 

Wisconsin, Stock feed investiga- 
tions 367 

Whey fed in 441 

Woll, Prof. F. W.. analyses milk 133 

Prof. F. W., on stock feeds. . . . 367 

Woodford, on alfalfa 223 

Worm, kidney 561 

Long thread 557 

Lung 543 

Pin 556 

Round 557 

Thorn headed 559 

Worms 556 



Yale, on large litters 144 

Yards, size of 312 

Yorkshire club 51 

Feeding experiments 303 

History 50 

Points SI 

Yorkshires at fairs 30 

Classified 34 

Fed millet 364 

Indiana census 31 

Influence on Victorias 57 



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impresses the reader with the fact that its writer is thor- 
oughly and practically familiar with all the details upon which 
he treats. All technical and strictly scientific terms are 
avoided, so far as feasible, thus making the work at once 
available to the practical stock raiser as well as to the teacher 
and student. Illustrated. 5 x 7 inches. 100 pages. Cloth. $0.75 

Spraying Crops — Why, When and How 

Ry Clarence M. Weed, D.Sc. The present fourth edition 
has been rewritten and set throughout to bring it thoroughlv 
up to date, so that it embodies the latest practical information 
gleaned by fruit growers and experiment station workers. So 
much new information has come to light since the third edi- 
tion was published that this is practically a new book, needed 
by those who have utilized the earlier editions, as well as by 
fruit growers and farmers generally. Illustrated. 136 pages. 
5 x 7 inches. Cloth $0.50 

(10) 



Feeding Farm Animals 

By Professor Thomas Shaw. This book is intended alike 
for the student and the farmer. The author has succeeded in 
giving in regular and orderly sequence, and in language so 
simple that a child can understand it, the principles that govern 
the science and practice of feeding farm animals. Professor 
Shaw is certainly to be congratulated on the successful man- 
ner in which he has accomplished a most difficult task. His 
book is unquestionably the most practical work which has ap- 
peared on the subject of feeding farm animals. Illustrated. 
S 1 /! x 8 inches. Upward of 500 pages. Cloth. . . . $2.00 

Profitable Dairying 

By C. L. Peck. A practical guide to successful dairy man- 
agement. The treatment of the entire subject is thoroughly 
practical, being principally a description of the methods prac- 
ticed by the author. A specially valuable part of this book 
consists of a minute description of the far-famed model dairy 
farm of Rev. J. D. Detrich, near Philadelphia, Pa. On the 
farm of fifteen acres, which twenty years ago could not main- 
tain one horse and two cows, there are now kept twenty-seven 
dairy cattle, in addition to two horses. All the roughage, 
litter, bedding, etc., necessary for these animals are grown on 
these fifteen acres, more than most farmers could accomplish 
on one hundred acres. Illustrated. 5x7 inches. 200 pages. 
Cloth $0.75 

Practical Dairy Bacteriology 

By Dr. H. W. Conn, of Wesleyan University. A complete 
exposition of important facts concerning the relation of bac- 
teria to various problems related to milk. A book for the 
classroom, laboratory, factory and farm. Equally useful to 
the teacher, student, factory man and practical dairyman. 
Fully illustrated with 83 original pictures. 340 pages. Cloth. 
5/2x8 inches $[.25 



Modern Methods of Testing Milk and Milk 
Products 

By L. L. YanSlvke. This is a clear and concise discussion 
of the approved methods of testing milk and milk products. 
All the questions involved in the various methods of testing 
milk and cream are handled with rare skill and yet in so plain 
a manner that they can be fully understood by all. The book 
should be in the hands of every dairyman, teacher or student. 

Illustrated. 214 pages. 5x7 inches $0.75 

(12) 



Animal Breeding 

By Thomas Shaw. This book is the most complete and 
comprehensive work ever published on the subject of which 
it treats. It is the first book which has systematized the sub- 
ject of animal breeding. The leading laws which govern this 
most intricate question the author has boldly defined and 
authoritatively arranged. The chapters which he has written 
on the more involved features of the subject, as sex and the 
relative influence of parents, should go far toward setting at 
rest the wildly speculative views cherished with reference to 
these questions. The striking originality in the treatment of 
the subject is no less conspicuous than the superb order and 
regular sequence of thought from the beginning to the end 
of the book. The book is intended to meet the needs of all 
persons interested in the breeding and rearing of live stock. 
Illustrated. 405; pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth. . . . $1.50 

Forage Crops Other Than Grasses 

By Thomas Shaw. How to cultivate, harvest and use 
them. Indian corn, sorghum, clover, leguminous plants, crops 
of the brassica genus, the cereals, millet, field roots, etc 
Intensely practical and reliable. Illustrated. 287 pages. 5x7 
inches. Cloth $1.00 

Soiling Crops and the Silo 

By Thomas Shaw. The growing and feeding of all kinds 
of soiling crops, conditions to which they are adapted, their 
plan in the rotation, etc. Not a line is repeated from the 
Forage Crops book. Best methods of building the silo, filling 
it and feeding ensilage. Illustrated. 364 pages. 5x7 inches. 
Cloth $1.50 

The Study of Breeds 

By Thomas Shaw. Origin, history, distribution, charac- 
teristics, adaptability, uses, and standards of excellence of all 
pedigreed breeds of cattle, sheep and swine in America. The 
accepted text book in colleges, and the authority for 
farmers and breeders. Illustrated. 371 pages. 5x7 inches. 
Cloth $1.50 

Clovers and How to Grow Them 

By Thomas Shaw. This is the first book published which 
treats on the growth, cultivation and treatment of clovers as 
applicable to all parts of the United States and Canada, and 
which takes up the entire subject in a systematic way and 
consecutive sequence. The importance of clover in the econ- 
omy of the farm is so great that an exhaustive work on this 
subject will no doubt be welcomed by students in agriculture. 
as well as by all who are interested in the tilling of the soil. 
Illustrated. 5 x 7 inches. 337 pages. Cloth. Net . . $1.00 

(13) 



The New Egg Farm 

By H. H. Stoddard. A practical, reliable manual on 
producing eggs and poultry for market as a profitable business 
enterprise, either by itself or connected with other branches 
of agriculture. It tells all about how to feed and manage, 
how to breed and select, incubators and brooders, its labor- 
saving devices, etc., etc. Illustrated. 331 pages. 5x7 inches. 
Cloth $1.00 

Poultry Feeding and Fattening 

Compiled by G. B. Fiske. A handbook for poultry keep- 
ers on the standard and improved methods of feeding and 
marketing all kinds of poultry. The subject of feeding and 
fattening poultry is prepared largely from the side of the 
best practice and experience here and abroad, although the 
underlying science of feeding is explained as fully as needful. 
The subject covers all branches, including chickens, broilers, 
capons, turkeys and waterfowl ; how to feed under various 
conditions and for different purposes. The whole subject of 
capons and caponizing is treated in detail. A great mass of 
practical information and experience not readily obtainable 
elsewhere is given with full and explicit directions for fatten- 
ing and preparing for market. This book will meet the needs 
of amateurs as well as commercial poultry raisers. Profusely 
illustrated. 160 pages. 5x7^ inches. Cloth. . . . $0.50 

Poultry Architecture 

Compiled by G. B. Fiske. A treatise on poultry buildings 
of all grades, styles and classes, and their proper location, 
coops, additions and special construction ; all practical in de- 
sign, and reasonable in cost. Over 100 illustrations. 125 pages. 
5x7 inches. Cloth $0.50 

Poultry Appliances and Handicraft 

Compiled by G. B. Fiske. Illustrated description of a 
great variety and styles of the best homemade nests, roosts, 
windows, ventilators, incubators and brooders, feeding and 
watering appliances, etc., etc. Over 100 illustrations. Over 
125 pages. 5x7 inches. Cloth $0.50 

Turkeys and How to Grow Them 

Edited by Herbert Myrick. A treatise on the natural 
history and origin of the name of turkeys ; the various breeds, 
the best methods to insure success in the business of turkey 
growing. With essays from practical turkey growers in 
different parts of the United States and Canada Copiously 

illustrated. 154 pages. 5 x 7 inches. Cloth $1.00 

(18) 



Farmer's Cyclopedia 
of Agriculture & jg 

A Compendium of Agricultural Science and Prac- 
tice on Farm, Orchard and Garden Crops, and the 
Feeding and Diseases of Farm Animals 

-By EARIXY VERNON WILCOX, Ph. D. 
and CLARENCE BEAMAN SMITH, M. S, 

Associate Editors m the Office of Experiment Stations, United States 
Department of Agriculture 



This is a new, practical, and complete 
presentation of the whole subject of ag- 
riculture in its broadest sense. It is de- 
signed for the use of agriculturists who 
desire up-to-date, reliable information 
on all matters pertaining to crops and stock, but 
more particularly for the actual farmer. The 
volume contains 

Detailed directions for the culture of every 
important field, orchard, and garden crop 

grown in America, together with descriptions of 
their chief insect pests and fungous diseases, and 
remedies for their control. It contains an ac- 
count of modern methods in feeding and handling 
all farm s^ock, including poultry. The diseases 
which affect different farm animals and poultry 
are described, and the most recent remedies sug- 
gested for controlling them. 

Every bit of this vast mass of new and useful 
information is authoritative, practical and easily 
found, and no effort has been spared to include 
all desirable details. There are between 6,000 
and 7,000 topics covered in these references, and 
it contains 700 royal 8vo pages and nearly 500 
superb half-tone and other original illustrations, 
making the most perfect Cyclopedia of Agricul- 
ture ever attempted. 

Handsomely bound in cloth, £3. 50: half morocco 
Ktiery jumplaouj). £4-. 5 O. postpaid 

flDAMPr limn PfllJDAUV 315321 Fourth Avenue, New York.N Y. 
UKHNUE. JUUU bllm r AW I , People's Gas Building. Chicaoo. III. 

(19) 



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